Island Love
by Fanpire101
Summary: Sierra McGorrill didn't go crazy or anything, because she knew she had something to live for. She just thought that nobody would ever find her on that island. Boy, was she wrong. Jackson/OC, Lex/OC, Melissa/OC, Abby/OC, Nathan/Daley, Eric/Tay.
1. Prologue

**Island Love**

_**Prologue**_

_**3 Years Earlier**_

_The tall, blonde haired, blue eyed twins followed their older brother down the street. It was their 13__th__ birthdays, which meant in Chino, California that a piece of street-survival knowledge was passed down to you from the eldest gang member in your gang or the oldest gang member in your family. The newest fourteen year olds followed their black haired, green eyed, tall, 17 year old brother down the deserted street to the empty car that sat at the end._

"_Derek, what are we doing here, man?" the twin brother asked._

"_Yeah, you know that if you get busted, you're likely to get jailed this time around." his twin sister added._

"_You two are worse than Mom. If I don't teach you two this, who will?" Derek replied, pulling out a crowbar. He placed it in the crack between the door of the car and pulled. He jumped into the know open car, pulled out a paper clip and turned the car on. Eric immediately turned around and ran off, going unnoticed by his twin sister and his gangster older brother._

"_Sierra, get your ass in the car!" he yelled._

"_Where did Eric go?" she asked, urgently._

"_How'm I supposed to know where that little bitch runs off to!?! Now get in the damn car!" Sierra turned to look for Eric and saw the cop car pulling around the bend. Derek started pulling the car forward and Sierra jumped into the car. The number 1 rule in her family: Never Let A Relative Go Down By Themselves. In short, if you see a brother, sister, cousin getting in trouble, you join them to take the heat off. It was the only way to keep their twisted family from going down the tubes._

_Derek sped away, barely giving Sierra time to pull the door closed behind her. Derek turned around to check where the cops were and crashed into a tree._

"_Put your hands up!" They heard the voice of the police officer boom from behind them. Selena put her hands above her head, mentally cursing Eric for not being there._

_Derek was jailed for possession of drugs, a gun, stealing and driving under the influence. He was looking at 3 to 5 years. Sierra was a minor, her parents paid the bail on her and decided to send her to reform school in Switzerland._

_On the way to Switzerland, a freak electric storm hit and blew the plane miles and miles off course. The pilot crashed the plane into the ocean and died on contact, along with most of the other passengers. Only one survived. Sierra McGorrill swam to the nearest island, carrying the supply bag and first aid kit, along with two of the lighter suitcases that she had brought, along with one of the older girls suitcases._

_She was never found because her plane was blown so off course, and all passengers were proclaimed dead. She lived alone on the island. She didn't go crazy or anything. because she knew that she had something to live for. But she thought that nobody would ever find her. Boy, was she wrong. _


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Hey guys, I just wanted to say that I am very proud of this story. On the first day I got 4 reviews and on the second day I got one. On the first day, that is the most reviews I've ever gotten. And yes, my prologue was pretty much the OC first episode. What can I say, I love the OC! But that is the only part of the OC you will see in this story, except for maybe identical names and events in future chapters. That's enough of this, now on with Chapter 1!

**Note**: Just a note. This story starts on Episode 8, Survival of the Fittest otherwise known as Day 6. Melissa ran away because Taylor and Eric blew her secret that she likes Jackson. Taylor and Eric broadcasted her secret over the radio because Melissa accidentally ruined Taylor's shirt. Nathan and Daley are pig hunting while Jackson and Lex are looking for Melissa because she ran away. Eric is still recuperating from being sick from the oysters.

(Last thing, promise) **Disclaimer**: I don't own Flight 29 Down, so I'm not putting this in any other chapter. I don't own it, I only own Sierra!

(And finally) **Chapter 1**

Melissa ran. She didn't know where she was going and she didn't care. She just had to get away from Taylor and Eric. Eric, she had saved his life, and this was what she got in return?

"That good for nothing son of a…" She didn't finish her sentence because she had reached the cliff and the view was breathtaking. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she took in the beautiful view. She shed her white long-sleeved shirt and held it above her head, letting the cool air rush around her. As she stood their, the ground below her gave way and she fell down the cliff, screaming.

She landed on a ledge that stuck out below the cliff, and looked around. She was covered in dirt, and she had a bruise and cut on her elbow.

"Ow," she whispered as she stuck her head out to see how far she would have fallen if not for the ledge. She crawled backwards a little before standing up and leaned over the edge.

"Oh man," she said. If the ledge hadn't been there, she would have fallen a good thousand feet. She walked backwards to stand in the little cave near the cliff.

----------------

Back at camp, Eric was lying down, still weak from his near-death experience. Jackson walked up to him.

"Hey, come with me," he told him.

"What? Where?" Eric sighed. He was a jerk and all, and he felt really bad for backstabbing Melissa, but he was really tired. _'Recuperating on a deserted island isn't the best idea,'_ Eric thought.

"Look, Melissa's been gone for hours. I'm a little worried about her." Jackson told him.

Eric shook his head. "I'd love to Chief, but I'm still burned after nearly _dieing_ yesterday." Eric replied as Lex ran up.

"I'll go," he told Jackson, his idol.

Jackson looked from Lex to Eric. "Look, if it weren't for Melissa you woulda died." Jackson told Eric, sharply.

"Hey, don't lay guilt on me. The camera was Taylor's idea." Eric told the leader as Taylor walked into the campsite.

"What was my idea?" Taylor asked happily.

"Alright, if anything happens to Melissa…it's on both your heads." Jackson told them as he and Lex walked away.

"What happened to Melissa?" Taylor asked Eric.

---------(I was going to do the whole Daley/Nathan/pig catching thing but I don't feel like it. Look it up on you tube if you wanna know what happens)

"Melissa!" Jackson yelled.

"MELISSA!" Lex screamed. "Hello!"

"Melissa!"

"Melissa! Melissa!"

"Melissa!"

----------------------

"Do I try too hard?" Taylor asked Eric, back at camp. "Be honest…" When Eric didn't respond she answered herself. "I don't think I try too hard."

Eric looked up at the blonde in front of him as she continued talking.

"Melissa was pretty upset. You don't think she'll do something, like, _stupid_? Do you?" she asked him quietly.

"What answer can I give that will make you go away!?!" Eric asked her, squinting to see her face as she was sitting in the sun. Taylor stood up and fiddled with the ends of the top that Melissa had ruined.

"This isn't, horrible." Taylor said, tying the ends of the mint green shirt together. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I feel guilty about what we did."

Eric pushed himself off the mat. "_We_?" he asked. "You're the one who did everything," he told her as she reached down and grabbed him, pulling him onto his feet.

"Oh come on!" she commanded, as she dragged him into the forest to search for Melissa.

---------

Melissa sat on the edge of the cliff, wondering if she would ever be found. She had yelled herself hoarse, and nobody had found her yet. She suddenly heard a rustling and the sound of falling rocks, not above her but below her. She stuck her head out over the edge as a young woman - who looked to be about Melissa's age - popped her head over the edge. The girl had matted blonde hair and ocean-y blue eyes. She reminded Melissa faintly of someone she knew.

"Oh, who are you?" the girl asked.

"Melissa. Who are you?"

"Sierra. What are you doing here?"

"We crashed here about 6 days ago. What about you?' Melissa's question got cut of by a wail of despair from the blonde.

"What! What's wrong?"

"I hoped that maybe you guys had a way of getting off this island!!! I've been stuck here for 3 years, without my brother, without ANYBODY!" The blonde pulled herself up to sit next to Melissa.

"You've been stuck here for 3 years!" Melissa yelled.

"Yeah, I was going to reform school in Switzerland when my plane got blown hours off course. Finally, we crashed in the ocean and I was the only one to survive. Hey, don't look like that. We were headed to Switzerland and landed in the ocean. I'm sure that rescue will come soon." Sierra told Melissa in response to her horrified expression. Melissa was wondering that, if this loner had been on the island for 3 years what hope it left for the outcasts.

"Well, can you at least get us off this rock?" Sierra looked around.

"I would have been able to get you off _but_ I forget to throw the vine down before I set off this morning. And I doubt that you want to free hand the rest of the climb."

"I wasn't the best climber back home." Melissa replied.

"Then we wait." Sierra said as she settled in next to Melissa.

-------------

"Melissa?"

"When are we gonna stop? I'm dieing." Eric and Taylor had been searching for Melissa for half an hour.

"Hello? Melissa! I forgive you!"

"No seriously Taylor, I'm still weak from yesterday." Eric said tiredly. He had nearly died the previous day from an allergic reaction to oysters.

"Oh please. It's not like I'm having any fun either." Taylor sighed and gestured to a near by log. "Take a rest." Eric moved and sat down on it.

"Why is she being such a drama queen?" Taylor asked, continuing her rant. "I mean, she deserved it. And all I did was getting even. Is that so wrong? It's not like I ruined any of her clothes of anything. I never really thought about it, but I figured it wouldn't be that great of a loss. You know the truth is, I did her a favor! Now Jackson knows that she likes him, and, I don't know…they can be together…or something." She then got a visual image of Jackson and Melissa together. " Ugh, not a good image. I mean, don't you think…?"

She looked over to where Eric was sitting and trailed off. In Eric's place was a frog, and no Eric anywhere to be seen.

"Eric?" Taylor shook her head as the frog croaked.

"Eric! Hey, don't leave me out here!"

------------------

Taylor was walking along a bluff. She still hadn't found Eric or Melissa.

"Help! Anybody? Oh, I'm so lost." Taylor talked to herself.

"Taylor?" Melissa whispered. "Hello? Is somebody there?" Melissa called. Taylor looked towards where Melissa had called.

"Melissa?"

"Taylor!" Melissa yelled from below the ledge, just as Taylor caught sight of Melissa's sweater.

"Oh my God." Taylor whispered. "NO!"

"Taylor!"

"Did something happen? Are you a ghost?" Below the ledge, Sierra rolled her eyes. Melissa had been filling her new friend in on everyone at camp, skipping over the two people she hated most at the time.

"No, I'm down here." Melissa called back. Taylor started forward, towards the edge. "Be careful, the edge is…" Melissa started yelling as an after thought, the rest of her sentence being drowned out by Taylor's scream as she fell down the cliff.

As Taylor fell into view, Melissa and Sierra grabbed Taylor and pulled her onto the rock ledge.

"We got you." Melissa told her.

"You! You're not a ghost!" Taylor stated.

"No. And I don't plan on being one, either." Melissa replied, as they looked down the rest of the hill.

"Who are you?" Taylor asked Sierra. Sierra launched into the same story she told Melissa. Once finished, Taylor filled Sierra in on her life as they edged further away from the edge.

Taylor looked down the hill and gave a wail of fear.

---------

Meanwhile, Jackson and Lex were still out looking for Melissa.

"Eric. Hey Eric!" Lex called, spotting the young man with the wicker hat.

"What are you doing out here?" asked the always inquisitive Lex.

"Taylor and I came looking for Melissa." Eric replied. "Look, I'm not a total jerk man, but I'm still weak. I gotta get back."

"So where's Taylor?" Jackson asked.

"Still, looking…I guess." Eric looked in the general direction he had come from.

Lex nodded as Jackson patted him on the back, and they ran off in the direction Eric had looked.

--------------

"What if this ledge breaks?" Taylor asked Melissa and Sierra.

"It's not gonna break," they said.

"Well what if nobody finds us? I don't want to die here!" Taylor thought for a moment. "I don't want to die anywhere." Taylor whispered.

"They'll find us, sooner or later. I trust Jackson…and Nathan, and Daley, and Lex." Melissa replied.

Taylor nodded, until she realized the flaw in her friend's sentence. "Hello! I'm the one that found you!" she said, pointing at herself.

"Yeah…but I'm not a big fan of yours right now." Melissa told her.

-----------

"Melissa!" Jackson yelled, coming over a bluff.

"Melissa!" Lex screamed.

Below the ledge, Taylor was playing with the burned edges of her shirt.

"Hey, you're wearing the shirt I burned." Melissa said shocked.

"Yeah, when I tie it like this it's not totally hideous." Taylor replied. Sierra sat near by, repeatedly throwing her camp knife into a log that was on the cliff.

"I knew that you would be mad when I told you what happened but I didn't think you'd go all viper like that." Melissa looked down. "I mean, what you did was pretty rotten."

Taylor rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"I don't like…people messing with my stuff," she replied.

Sierra looked up. "So you fight back by messing with their lives?" she asked.

"What're you going to do if something really bad happens?" Melissa asked.

Taylor sighed. "I don't know," she mumbled.

Above the cliff, Lex spotted Melissa's top.

"Wow!" he said.

"Look, there's footprints." Jackson said, rushing to the edge.

"Look!" Lex said, pointing to the top.

"Melissa!" Jackson screamed.

"Hey! We're down here!" Taylor yelled as Melissa grabbed onto her.

Jackson stood right at the edge. Melissa, Taylor and Sierra could see the debris falling from above them.

"Be careful! The edge isn't safe." Melissa called. Above, Jackson laid down so his weight was spread out.

"Are you alright, are you safe?" he asked.

"We're okay," she called back, as Sierra walked over to the edge of the cliff. "Be careful!"

"Where are you going?" Taylor hissed.

"From what Melissa told me, that's Lex up there with this Jackson kid. Lex won't be able to help pull you two up, so I'll free climb up to the top and help," she whispered as she grasped a rocky crevice and started to climb up.

"Alright, we're gonna get you up." Jackson called back. Taylor and Melissa smiled and turned to hug, before backing away, Melissa still mad at Taylor.

Above, Jackson pulled himself up.

"You stay here, I'm gonna go get the rope." Lex nodded and Jackson turned to leave before turning back. "Do NOT go near the edge." Lex nodded again, as Jackson slapped him on the back and ran off. Lex continued looking down the ledge.

Soon after Jackson ran off, Sierra stuck her head up.

"Who are you?"

"I'll tell you later," she replied.

------------

Jackson ran as fast as he could to get the rope. He felt bad, like it was his fault. He didn't like Melissa _like that_, but she was like his little sister, and he would do anything to protect her.

Jackson soon passed Lex and Daley, who were talking about their pig-catching escapades.

"You know, it's not a good feeling…being outsmarted by a pig." Nathan said. As Daley nodded, they heard the pig squeal, as it shot out from the area Jackson had just trampled. The pig landed in the hole they had dug. Nathan and Daley started laughing.

"Yes!" They high-fived each other.

"_You know what…this is about survival. You have to be tough, and cutthroat. Ooh, bad choice of words."_ Nathan said later in his video diary.

------------------

Jackson soon arrived back at the ledge.

"Who are you?" he asked Sierra.

"Don't worry about it. Just get those two out of there before Melissa goes Mohammed Ali all over Taylor's face," the girl replied.

"A girl with a sense of humor, I like that." Jackson gave his brooding-like grin and called down to the girls, "Alright, one of you tie this under your arms, and we'll pull you up." He tossed the rope down to them. Melissa grabbed it and pulled it over to Taylor.

"You go first."

"NO! No way, I can't do that," she replied.

"Yes you can." Melissa commanded.

"No, I can't. I'll fall, and I'm afraid of heights."

"Taylor!"

Above, Jackson had pulled the opposite loop over his head. "Alright, we'll pull, you climb." Sierra and Lex grabbed the rope in front of Jackson. The end of the rope was so short that Sierra was pressed up against Jackson.

"Get a grip. Tie the rope, and go." Unbeknownst to Taylor, Melissa had pulled the loop on their end of the rope over her head.

"Ohh, God." Taylor whispered as she readied herself for the climb.

"Okay, grab it." Jackson said to Lex, gesturing to the remaining rope.

Taylor was on the wall, ready to go; Melissa was smoothing out Taylor's shirt so that it wouldn't get caught in the rope.

"Ready, pull." Jackson, Sierra and Lex pulled on the rope as Taylor started to climb.

"Good, you got it." Melissa called encouraging words to her friend.

"Pull." They continued pulled until Taylor was safely on sturdy ground.

"Alright, take the rope off." Jackson told her, sending Lex to make sure that Taylor was alright. "Hey, you alright down there?" Jackson called, smiling a bit.

Melissa flashed back to everything that had happened: meeting a new friend, Jackson knowing about her crush on him, ruining Taylor's shirt…

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am now," she called back.

---------------

Once Melissa was off the ledge and with the group, they slowly ambled towards the campsite, convincing Sierra to come with them. She told Jackson and Lex who she was and what she was doing there, and Jackson thought that she would be an asset to their group.

Once at the campsite, no one was to be found. Daley and Nathan were still out with the pig, and there was a note from Eric; stating that he had gone to get more water since he thought that Melissa would need some when she came back. Taylor took Sierra to clean up before meeting the rest of the survivors. She and Jackson were going to fetch her other clothes the next day. Taylor was willing to lend Sierra her red dress for the night.

Jackson was working on the huge HELP sign they had made and filled with rocks when Melissa walked up.

"Hi," she said.

"Oh hey, I uh," he dug in his pocket. "Got something for ya." Jackson pulled out the tape, _her_ tape, that had caused the entire mess. "You should probably keep that in a safe place."

"Oh, I will." Melissa replied, looking down at it.

"Listen, since we all have to live with each other here…I think it would be kinda weird for any of us to, you know…"

"It's okay, just forget any of this happened, I'm so embarrassed." Truthfully, when she knew that Jackson had found out, the spell of the crush had been broken, and she didn't like him _like that_ any more. "I know we're just friends."

"Well, maybe when we get back home, I could give you a call, or something." Jackson didn't want to lose touch with 'his little sister.'

Melissa did not want to lose touch with Jackson, either. He was like her big brother. She turned and walked back towards him, as she had been walking away.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Jackson smiled.

"Give me a hand here?" Melissa nodded and they bent down to work on HELP sign…together, as a brother and sister would work.

-----------------

Later that night, Daley and Nathan and Eric returned to camp, all of them empty handed. Daley and Nathan explained that they had finally caught the pig with help from Jackson, but had set it lose. Eric had filled up the water containers, but was unable to carry them because he was still weak

"So, we have a surprise for all of you." Lex started.

"Okay,"

"This is Sierra, she's been here for a while and will be staying with us and helping us out." Jackson said as Taylor moved so that Sierra could be seen.

Sierra scanned the fire pit before her gaze finally came to rest on the blonde boy with the wicker hat and the ocean-y blue eyes.

"Eric?"

Eric looked up and started. Recovering after a moment he yelled, "Sierra!" He jumped up and they embraced. 3 years was a long time to be away from your twin, after all.

**A/N:** How's that for a first chapter.

Beta Note: I am deeply sorry, don't get mad at the author because her lack of updates was entirely my fault. So I apologize, I hoped you liked the chapter anyway …

**A/A/N (another authors note):** I had forgotten how long this first chapter was. Oh well, hope you enjoyed it.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:** OMG! I can't believe it! I just found this document! I would have put this up ages ago but my computer crashed, and I lost the document and we didn't get the computer back for a while…long story short I just uncovered this document. I'm so sorry for the delay. I hope y'all will forgive me.

Chapter 2

Sierra pulled back slightly from Eric. "I thought I'd lost you forever." She had tears streaming down her face.

"I missed you." Eric replied.

A look of realization came over Sierra's face a few seconds before she slugged Eric in the stomach. He fell to the ground, clutching it. "I can't believe you left us like that! ¡Usted híbrido! ¡Usted dejó Derek e I a los polis! ¡Usted no era allí cuando conseguí enviado a la escuela militar! ¡Usted es mi gemelo, Eric! Cuando está sucedido al "¡Nos pegaremos juntos!" I can't believe you! You deserve everything you get!"

Eric looked down to the ground. "I know," he whispered.

"Wait a sec," Melissa came up beside Eric and helped him up. "You two know each other?"

Sierra went for Eric again, but Jackson held her back. "You didn't even tell your friends about me!?! How could you! After everything we've been through together you didn't even tell them about your twin sister!"

She screamed and ranted at him for a few minutes with Jackson holding her back, and then she turned her head so she was looking up at him, as he had her bent over with her arms behind her back. He was holding her arms in a tight grip. "Hey, James Dean? Could ya let me go? I'm done trying to kill my brother."

He released her and she immediately started shaking her arms, trying to regain blood flow in them. "Sorry," he muttered as he sunk into one of the logs around the fire. He shook his head. "James Dean?" Jackson looked up at her, confusion in his eyes.

"Eh, you've got the whole brooding thing going." She shrugged her shoulders as she sank down next to Eric, burying her head in his chest. Jackson shook his head.

"Tell us the whole story." Daley sat down next to Lex.

"Who are you?" Sierra replied.

"What?"

"I don't know anyone but Lex, Jackson, Melissa, Lex, Taylor, and Eric. Who are you and the kid with the afro?"

Daley blushed. "Oh, I'm Daley."

"Okay and you are..?" Sierra looked at the kid with the afro.

"Nathan," he smiled. She tossed her head in greeting.

"Now can we get the whole story?" Lex asked.

Sierra nodded. "Eric and I used to live in a pretty slummy place in California. Chino, California actually."

"Eric, you told us you lived in Vegas before you moved to Cali!" Taylor piped up.

Sierra gave him a dirty look. He shrunk back. "Anyways, our dad was this hotshot computer designer and had tons of money, but he married our mom. She basically drained most of his bank accounts in the first couple of months. Dad kept making money, and she kept spending it. We were born right before they had to move to Chino from Orange County. Our older brother Derek was 2 when that happened. All three of us were 'accidents' in my mom's book."

"Eric, you never told us you had an older brother." Nathan looked at Eric, as if he was seeing him for the first time.

"Good job Eric. Keep lying." Daley gave him a look.

"Am I gonna have to beat a bitch? Cuz I'm gonna if I keep getting interrupted!" Sierra looked around, but everyone was shocked into silence. "Sorry, I've got a mouth on me. I'm working on it. Moving on. Well, in Chino, my mom still wanted to live like she was rich. So Eric, Derek and I had to fend for ourselves. We stole clothes, food, necessities. We lived in the backyard when our mom wouldn't let us in the house. Finally, we snapped. When Eric and I turned 13, we were gonna bust out of Chino. When our birthdays rolled around, Derek tried to steal a car while Eric and I were there. Eric took off, but I was dragged into the car with Derek. He crashed, and we were caught by the cops. Derek got jail time, and I got sent to military-slash-boarding school. That's how I ended up here."

Sierra looked around the campfire. Jackson was looking at her with something like empathy. Daley and Nathan were staring at her with shock. Lex looked like he was going to cry. Taylor looked unfazed as she continued to file her nails.

"Dad divorced mom when she didn't even want to look for you after your plane crashed. He got all his money back and we moved to LA." Eric said quietly. "He remarried though. She's nice. Really pretty. You'll like her."

"Derek?"

"Still in jail. I think he gets out soon." Sierra nodded.

"So how have you guys been holding up on this pathetic spit of land?"

The group started to fill her in on everything that was happening, and Sierra found it difficult to keep her eyes open. She soon drifted off, cuddled up next to Eric.

"Where are we gonna put her?" Eric whispered.

"She can stay with me." Lex piped up.

"You sure? I'm sure we can fit her in…" Melissa said, thinking about how they would fit 4 people in one little tent.

"I'm sure."

"Okay," Eric said. He went to pick her up. He almost fell when bending down. "I can't pick her up. I might drop her."

Jackson scrambled to his feet, in a way that only he could do. "I've got her." He took her gently in his arms and carried her to Lex's tent. Melissa felt a bolt of jealousy for this girl that she just met. _She _was supposed to be bundled up in Jackson's arms. _She_ used to be Eric's confident. All the things _she _used to do were slowly being taken over by **her**.

* * *

Jackson couldn't sleep. Nathan kept tossing and turning, and Eric kept moaning about something or another. Usually he would go sleep in Lex's tent but with Sierra there, he didn't want to disturb her. Jackson crawled over Nathan's legs and unzipped the tent. All his time running with a gang in Fresno had forced him to become sneaky and quiet. He quickly slipped out of the tent and zipped it up again.

"Hey." Jackson startled and tripped. He heard a giggle and looked up at Sierra who was sitting near the fire. "Nice moves, Slick."

Jackson gave a sarcastic laugh. "You're funny. Really funny."

"You said you liked funny girls." Sierra grinned as he shot her a look.

"Couldn't sleep?" he asked her.

"Nah, I can't sleep in enclosed places. It's too weird. You?"

"Have you ever tried sleeping in a tent with 2 other guys that are just as big as you?"

"No. Not that I would want to." Their conversation lulled into silence as they lay back beside the fire to stare at the stars.

"So…Chino huh?"

"Yeah. Pretty rough place, but it's all I've ever known."

"I'm from Fresno." Jackson said. "Well, at least before I got picked up by child services."

"Really?" Sierra looked at him with newfound trust and respect. "Hey, do you have an older brother named Cody?"

"I am Cody. I like my last name better though. Why, did we meet before?"

"I think so. At Jazz's party that got busted up by the cops."

"Nah, that was probably my brother Chris."

"Chris, Chris…Oh Chris! Yeah. He's like my brothers best friend."

"Your brother is Derek?"

"Yeah dude!"

"That's nuts! I never would have guessed."

"Yeah well…" Sierra lay down on the sand and pulled a deck of cards out of her pants pocket. She looked at him. "You want to play?"

"Sure," he lay down on the sand beside her and propped himself up with his elbow. Sierra split the deck and gave Jackson half.

"War?"

"Sure." They immediately started laying cards down and snatching them up again in the card game war. Soon, Sierra had her head pillowed against her arm and was fast asleep in the sand. Jackson moved her cards from beside her, keeping the cards separate so they could continue the game, and fell asleep in the sand.

* * *

The next day, Melissa was the first to wake up. She exited the tent and her eyes went immediately to Sierra and Jackson cuddled up in the sand. Jackson had moved in the middle of the night and ended up putting his arm over Sierra with his other arm pillowing her head. Sierra was holding the hand that was over her waist.

Melissa frowned. She really disliked the way this new girl was automatically fitting in with everyone. She had put Daley in her place, gotten along with Nathan, Lex liked her enough to put her in his tent, Jackson was all _snuggly_ with her, and she was Eric's sister. Melissa moved to where the fruit was hidden and threw open the container. The container lid made a crashing sound against the plane.

Sierra startled. Jackson shifted behind her.

"Morning," he grinned down at her. He was propped up on one elbow and she was lying on the sand.

"Looks like we fell asleep." Jackson laughed.

"Yeah, but we still have our game to finish." He grinned at her. Melissa cleared her throat loudly behind them.

"Oh, morning Mel." Jackson scrambled to his feet and offered his hand to Sierra. They walked over to where Melissa was standing. They were still holding hands. It was like they didn't even realize they were doing it. "Hey, Sierra. We'll go get your stuff after we eat." He looked expectantly at her.

"Sure. I'm not busy. I just have to whoop your butt at cards."

"In your dreams."

* * *

Later that day, everyone got really bored. Jackson and Sierra had already gone to get Sierra's stuff, which included a hammock and extra clothes. They had strung the hammock from the wing of the plane to a nearby tree. After that, no one had anything to do. Taylor was making a sand castle; Eric was trying to learn how to juggle; Melissa was picking flowers; Daley and Nathan were playing x's and o's; Lex was working on his video diary; and Jackson and Sierra were finishing their card game. Jackson laid down his last card and Sierra laid down one of her cards which over took Jackson's 2 of clubs. They started to laugh as they got up and traipsed off into the jungle.

"Where are they going? They disappear for hours at a time." Daley stated as she and Nathan watched them disappear.

"I don't know. He doesn't talk to anyone but her." Nathan replied. They watched them walk out of sight, listening to their laughter echo through the trees.

"Should we?"

"Sure…it's not like we're busy." They got up and quietly followed Jackson and Sierra.

A few minutes later they reached a clearing. Jackson pulled the camp knife from its scabbard. Sierra threw herself down on a bed of moss and watched him go to work on a piece of wood. Daley and Nathan hid behind the tall grass near her.

"Oh man," Nathan whispered when he saw the pieces of wood strung together.

"He's got to be kidding." Daley replied.

"He's building an escape raft." Nathan said in amazement. He looked at Daley and they started to laugh. Jackson looked up at them, and then at Sierra, who was calmly shuffling the cards as a way to pass time. She looked at him and shook her head.

"You guys aren't as slick as you think you are," she called.

"You two havin' fun?" Jackson asked, throwing the knife into the ground. They looked at him with sheepish expressions on their faces. Sierra hauled herself onto her feet and then sauntered over to Jackson, never ceasing in her shuffling.

"Sorry." Nathan said. He looked at Daley. "Busted." Daley laughed.

"You can't be serious." Jackson turned and walked away, retrieving the knife from Sierra who had picked it up. She returned to shuffling the deck, watching Daley and Nathan follow Jackson. "I mean, come on… a raft? What do you know about building a boat?"

"Really. I mean, you don't think anyone's gonna sail that thing do you?"

"Don't worry. This thing'll sink before it gets deep enough to drown." They continued to laugh. Sierra shook her head as she watched the proceedings. "We could use it for firewood."

"Yeah!" Nathan took Daley's side.

"Listen. I didn't ask for your opinion." Jackson looked sternly at them.

"I'm just giving you a hard time." Daley defended herself.

"Well save it." Sierra walked over and stood next to Jackson. She seemed completely unaware as she continued shuffling her cards.

"Come on man, lighten up." Nathan said in a cheerful voice.

"Hey back off. And mind your own business."

"Dude, be cool." Nathan put his hand on Jackson's shoulder.

Jackson slapped it away. "Don't _dude_ me." Jackson gave him a look. Daley saw a fight about to break out and walked to Nathan's other side.

"Okay, let's just go." She pulled Nathan away.

"What is your problem, man?" Jackson watched as he was dragged away. As soon as they were out of sight, Sierra put the cards in her pocket and put her hands on Jackson's back; she began rubbing the tense muscles there.

"Shhh, chill out Jackson." She continued rubbing with one hand, and moved her other hand onto his forehead, where she combed her fingers through his hair. She didn't find it weird or think it was too quick because they were all trapped on the island. She and Jackson also came from the same type of home. Jackson took a deep breath. "There you go. Nathan and Daley were way out of line. But we all have to live together, so no beating on him." Jackson turned around and hugged her.

"Thanks." He went and continued working on his project.

"For what?" Sierra asked as she took the cards out of her pocket and took her seat on the mossy bed.

"For being here. You get me. You know what I'm going through. I don't fit in with these guys, but I'm their leader. I have to make sure their all safe while making them all happy."

"Chill out Jackson. You don't have to do it by yourself. If you need help, I'm here."

"Again, thanks."

* * *

Back at the camp, Nathan and Daley explained what happened. At the end, Nathan snapped a twig to release his anger.

"Oh yeah, we've got ourselves a feud." Eric said. He remembered what it was like to just whale on the guy that pissed him off. He wouldn't try it on Jackson though. Not that he would tell his friends that.

"It's not funny! I thought he was gonna snap!" Nathan looked at his broken twig. It hadn't come close to releasing his pent-up anger.

"All we did was make fun of his raft. Why did he get so angry?" Daley pointed out.

"I don't know. I don't know anything about the guy."

"I think he comes from a nasty part of downtown. That's what Sierra told me, anyways." Eric said.

"Oh yeah, like us Eric?" Sierra walked up to the congregation of castaways.

"Don't remind me." Nathan said, shuddering away from the memories of the previous night, when Eric's true past came out. "But I heard that too. What's he doing at our school anyway?"

"I heard he moved in with a foster family." Daley piped up.

"If you guys are gonna bash him, I'm out of here." Sierra stood up and left the circle.

"I wonder if they're scared of him too." Nathan continued as if Sierra had never left.

"Oh man, hostility Nathan!" Eric laughed. "You got depth!"

"Come on man, this is serious! You know, he comes from a totally different world than us!"

"_I come from a totally different world than you too, and I fit in just fine,"_ Eric thought. It was like his friends refused to accept that he wasn't what he told them he was.

"You never know what a guy like that might do. We've gotta watch our backs." Nathan continued. Eric looked up to see two things. 1) His sister in the distance shaking her head, and 2) Jackson standing right behind Nathan.

"Uh, Nathan?" Eric said, laughing inside.

"What?"

"Watch your back." Eric said, and you could hear the laughter in his voice. Nathan turned around to see Jackson with two water containers. He threw them down and walked back to Sierra. They walked back to the clearing.

"Hey Sierra, could you go get me some more wood?" She looked up from where she was forcing the deck to shoot from one hand into the other.

"Sure." She put the cards in her pocket and ran off. He continued cutting some of the wood off of one end.

"Wow, that's really coming along." Melissa was standing in front of him. She, of course, already knew what it was. He gave her a look that told her to cut to the chase. "So, what happened?"

"Doesn't matter." Jackson replied, looking up.

"Oh, don't be angry! I've known Nathan a long time and he's just scared." Melissa tried to defend her best friend.

"What's he ever had to be scared of?" Jackson said pessimistically.

"I mean about being stuck here and not knowing when we're going to be rescued…"

"I know what you meant. Okay, I know guys like him. They spend their whole lives being told how special they are and they start to believe it!" Jackson said angrily.

"What kind of guy are you?" Melissa asked.

"The kind that always has to prove it." Jackson threw his wooden masterpiece down and ran to help Sierra, who was coming up the path with an overflowing armload of wood. He smiled at her. "Thanks kid. It was about time you started pulling your weight around here." He turned to walk away when Sierra threw her leg out and kicked him in the butt.

"Shut up. Just because I beat you at cards…"

"You didn't beat me. You probably rigged the cards." They continued their friendly banter as they passed Melissa and continued working on the project. Melissa sighed as she walked away.

* * *

Back at the beach, Lex picked up the microphone to the planes loudspeaker. "Attention, attention, let the games begin!" Taylor stood rubbing her head and Eric came running up beside her. "Step right up, one and all!" Daley was next to appear. "The competition will soon get underway!" Nathan and Melissa came up next. "Gather 'round! Don't be shy!" Jackson and Sierra did not appear. "Everybody! Everybody!"

"What's up?" Daley asked her younger step-brother.

"I'm announcing the first official-" Taylor stormed up and yanked the microphone out of his hand. "Umm, I'm announcing the first official 29 Down Mazeathon!"

"That's not a real word." Eric commented to Nathan.

"What are you talking about Lex?"

"I say we should have some fun for a change!" Lex replied.

"Hello! That's what I've been saying this whole time!" Taylor complained.

"Then follow me!" Lex jumped off the podium and ran towards his 'surprise'.

"Yeah? So what is it?" Taylor asked.

"It's an obstacle course." Lex explained.

"You said it was a maze." Eric whined.

"We'll divide up into two teams and have a relay race." At the less than enthusiastic response, Lex exclaimed, "C'mon it'll be fun!"

"And where exactly is the fun part?" Taylor asked, grimacing.

"I know. Loser gets voted off the island." The group laughed.

"I thought the winners would get the rest of the day off, and the losers would have to be their servants." Lex replied.

"Oh man, I'd kill for that." Eric replied.

"Why, you hardly do anything as it is." Daley said in return.

"Hey, that sounds like fun." Melissa told Lex.

"Yeah, what are the teams?" Nathan asked.

"I'm the judge, so I'll make 'em fair." Lex said.

"Oh wait, what about Jackson and Sierra?" Melissa asked. "We can't do it without them."

"Yeah Nathan, what about Jackson?" Eric teased. "Maybe you should go ask him if he wants to come out and play."

* * *

Listening to Melissa's advice to go and invite Jackson to the Mazeathon, Nathan crept up to the clearing where Jackson was working. Sierra was asleep on the bed of moss, and Jackson was working on his 'raft'.

"Spying on me again, Nathan?" Jackson asked without turning around.

"No," Nathan replied defensively. "No, I…Look. I came to clear the air. I said some things that I didn't mean."

Jackson crossed his arms. "So, you don't think that you're better then me?" he asked.

"NO! I didn't say that!"

"You said that I didn't belong at your school because I come from a totally different world." Jackson replied, his stony gaze never flickering from Nathan.

"I didn't mean that." Nathan replied quietly.

"Yeah, you did."

"Look, I don't want to fight with you."

"Too bad!"

Nathan took a deep breath. "Alright, you know what? I came to tell you that Lex is building an obstacle course, and he wants to have a relay race with teams to, you know, have some fun."

"Well, what are the teams?" Jackson replied.

"Well, it's me and Daley and Taylor against Melissa, Eric and-"

"And…me?" Nathan gave him a look. "You and me are on opposite teams?"

"Yeah."

"And what about Sierra?"

"Eric said she would probably not rather play."

"Well, he's right. I'll help Lex keep tabs on you guys." Sierra replied, sauntering over to the face-off.

"Well, then tell Lex I'll be there."

* * *

"Both teams have to run the course 4 times. That means that one person, from each team, has to run it twice." Lex smiled at the group. Sierra was standing behind him, shuffling her cards. "Who's it gonna be?" Lex asked. Jackson stepped forward. "Okay, Jackson from this team and…?" Taylor stepped forward.

"Really?" Melissa asked.

"No, not really. Get serious." She stepped back and pushed Nathan forward.

"Okay! Nathan and Jackson are our first and last. Everybody take your marks!" Lex yelled, obviously excited. Jackson and Nathan walked forward. Sierra stood in front of them to be the starter. "This is for the 29 Down Mazeathon World Championship!" Lex spoke into the microphone.

"It's not a maze!" Eric argued.

"Whatever!" Lex replied. Jackson began clapping behind him, raring to go. Lex returned to the microphone. "Winners have no chores for the rest of the day, and losers are their servants. Ready," Sierra raised her arms. "Set, GO!" Sierra let her arms fall. The racers took off. Nathan was in the lead. When they tagged Taylor and Melissa, Melissa took the lead. Taylor wasn't doing the course right anyways. Lex was shouting insults at Taylor as she continuously screwed up. Melissa ran back and tagged Eric. When Taylor finally made it back, Daley overtook Eric. They both ran back and tagged Nathan and Jackson for the last round. When Jackson reached the point where he had to turn and run, he stopped.

"What's he doing?" Eric asked Melissa.

When Nathan reached Jackson, he still didn't move. "What is that?" Melissa asked.

At the other end of the course, Nathan gave Jackson a questioning look. "You never know what guys like me are gonna do." Jackson replied to the look. He gestured for Nathan to go. "Go ahead." Nathan took off. Jackson quickly removed his sandals. When Nathan was a good distance a way, Jackson took off with the speed of a track star. Sierra, Lex, Melissa, and Eric went wild as Jackson overtook Nathan and won the race. Melissa and Eric grabbed him in a team hug as the other team looked on.

* * *

Nathan and Daley collapsed near the fire. They thought they were off the hook on the 'servant for a day' thing because Eric and Melissa were ribbing Taylor. They looked up as they heard footsteps approaching. Jackson and Sierra stood in front of them.

"I'm here to collect my winnings." Jackson told them.

"Yeah, and?" Nathan replied, put out that he had lost with such a head start.

"Come with us." Jackson and Sierra turned and walked off.

They lead them to the clearing. "If I'm gonna get this done today I'm gonna need your help. Sierra's really tired so I'm giving her a break."

"You want our help?" Daley asked.

"Yeah, that was the deal wasn't it? Losers do what the winners say." They slowly but surely put the pieces of wood, the life jackets, seatbelts, and pieces of twine together. When it was done they stood back and admired their handy work.

"I know you're not gonna want to hear this, but I still think its suicide to get on this." Daley told him.

"Who said I was going to?" Jackson replied.

"Well Daley and I sure aren't and I can guarantee that Eric and Taylor won't be shoving off. Eric won't let Sierra do it either. That leaves Melissa and L-"

"I'm not letting my little brother anywhere near this thing." Daley added.

"Too bad, cuz it's for him." Sierra replied, sauntering over. She put her hand on Nathan's cheek, patting it roughly. "And Eric does not control me."

"Over my dead body!" Daley exclaimed.

"Are you serious? You want Lex to float off in this thing?" Nathan demanded.

"No, no," Jackson started but he was immediately cut off.

"Okay, then I'm lost." Daley replied.

"Well the rest of us are all stressed about who's gonna be in charge and what the other guys think, and Lex has been thinking about things a little more important."

"Yeah, he's been busy making that distress sign." Nathan replied. Jackson nodded. "Okay it's a good idea but-"

"But no one's gonna see it unless we put it out there."

"Put Lex's sign on the raft and send it off?" Jackson and Sierra both gave him the 'are you dumb?' look. Nathan finally clued in. "Like a message in a bottle!" Jackson nodded.

"Jackson, that's brilliant." Daley said in awe. Jackson nodded his head.

"But Lex doesn't know?" Nathan asked, confused again.

"It's a surprise, that's why I needed it done for today." Jackson replied.

"Why, what's so special about today?" Daley asked.

Sierra started to laugh. "You're joking right?" she asked. Daley looked confused.

"Isn't this his birthday?" Jackson asked. Daley's eyes widened in realization.

* * *

Back at the beach, Daley approached Lex. "Hey."

"Hi," he replied.

"So, being stuck here is kinda weird."

"Ya think?" Lex was rarely sarcastic, but it was something he was picking up from Jackson. He idolized Jackson for being so strong.

Daley laughed. "What I mean is we're all so far from normal here that it's hard to remember what normal is."

"Yeah." Lex sighed.

"And you're doing the most to keep us going. That Mazeathon was fun Lex. It really was. Even Taylor thought so, though she won't admit it."

"Really?" Lex was surprised that Taylor liked anything.

"Yeah well, I mean, everybody else is off in their own universe. You're keeping us together. That makes me feel even worse that I forgot your birthday."

"That's okay. There's a lot going on."

"I know, but we have to remember who we are." Daley said sadly. She held her arms out to him and he moved into them. "Happy birthday Lex. I love you."

"I love you too." Lex whispered back. They pulled apart and Daley smiled.

"But not everybody's a loser like me. 2 people remembered. That makes me feel like a complete clod, because one of them just showed up."

"Sierra remembered? But who else?" Lex asked. He had drilled it into Sierra's head before he went to bed, as she had woken up as he crawled into the tent. But he couldn't remember telling anyone else about his birthday.

"Come on out!" Daley yelled.

"Happy, happy birthday! Happy, happy birthday!" The rest of the castaways appeared holding Jackson's raft on their shoulders. Jackson, Nathan, Melissa, Eric, and Sierra all had a hefted onto their shoulders while Taylor sat on top. They eased it down onto the ground.

"Hey, hey. Easy!" Taylor demanded as they settled it down. Taylor took off her fake lai and placed it around Lex's neck. She bent down and kissed his hair.

"Jackson has a surprise for you." Daley told Lex.

"Lex, this is for you buddy." Jackson gestured to the raft. Sierra stood in between Jackson and Eric. "I mean, it may have been my idea, but it never would have happened without Sierra, or Nathan, or Daley." The 3 aforementioned smiled at him. "I mean, you're always coming up with ideas on how to make things better for us. For a change, this is something that takes one of your ideas and makes it a little better. When Sierra heard what I was doing, she wanted a piece of the action."

"As a thank you for sharing your tent with me. Happy birthday kiddo!" Sierra stepped forward and hugged Lex tight. She stepped back and Jackson nodded at those still surrounding the raft. They lifted it up so that Lex could see what it was. In shiny blue letters the tarp read 'S.O.S We're Alive Flight 29 Dwn'.

"It's perfect!" Lex exclaimed, a huge smile on his face.

"Happy birthday buddy!" Jackson bent down and gave him a high-five. They all attacked Lex with hugs and birthday wishes.

* * *

Later that night, the castaways carried the raft down to the ocean to let it free. Jackson, Sierra, Eric, Melissa, Nathan, and Taylor waded into the ocean to let it go while Lex and Daley stood holding hands on the sand. When they let it go, Lex and Daley embraced. Sierra splashed Eric in the face with water, which ensued in a huge water fight. Jackson lifted Sierra up and threw her into the water. Sierra swam back underwater and tackled Eric into Taylor. At an unspoken agreement, they waded, dripping, onto shore to watch the raft float away.

"Hey, how did you know it was his birthday?" Nathan asked Jackson.

"He told me on the plane. Said he was all excited about having a big adventure on his birthday. Guess he got more than he asked for." Jackson chuckled.

"Yeah, no kidding." Nathan replied. Nathan thought about everything that had happened that day. He wouldn't apologize because it was too easy. "You did a good thing." Nathan told him.

"Yeah, well…Yeah. Guess you never know what guys like me are gonna do." Jackson gave him a pointed look. He smirked, and then laughed to let Nathan know he wasn't mad anymore. Nathan turned and walked away. Jackson unthinkingly wrapped his arm around Sierra. "So, I guess you got more then you bargained for when you ran into Melissa yesterday, huh?"

"Sure did, James Dean. I ran into my brother. I have new friends. And I have you."

"And what am I?" Jackson asked.

"Someone whose butt I can whip at cards." Sierra took off running back towards the camp, laughing the entire way. Jackson laughed and followed her.


	4. Chapter 3

A/N: Holy bejezzus! Funny story. Didn't think I had posted the last chapter (probably in part because of the lack of reviews), finished proofing the document last night, just to find that I had posted it. So I have moved on to this chapter. It may take me all March Break to finish, but I've got nothing better to do.

Chapter 3

Day 8-Morning

Eric and Nathan were walking through the forest to find more fruit for the band of lonely survivors. They were out further than anyone but Sierra had ever been. Nathan pushed a branch of ferns out of the way.

"And we're out this far from camp because…?" Eric trailed off, honestly wondering why they had come so far.

"Because we want to find every possible source of fruit. We don't want to run out." Nathan craned his head far to try and spot a banana tree, or some other fruit-bearing plant.

"Fruit doesn't grow on trees, you know." Eric laughed at his joke, but Nathan gave him a look that said that he was less then humored. "It was a joke! Come on man, lighten up!" Eric slapped Nathan on the back. Nathan retaliated by throwing the leaves back in Eric's face as he walked away. Eric fought his way through the leaves and continued eating his banana.

"You know, if we were smart we start a garden."

"No, we're not that smart. I don't even want to think of being here that long."

"Yeah, well neither do I but I'd rather be safe then-"

"Whoa, whoa." Eric stumbled over the rough terrain towards a tree. He stopped beside Nathan. "Wait, I thought you said no one's been out this far?"

"They haven't."

"Then what's that?" Eric gestured towards a tree with his banana. The tree had a red handkerchief tied around it with a piece of paper fit between the bark and the cloth. They both ran towards the tree, looking alarmed. Nathan reached the tree first, and untied the cloth, pulling out the piece of paper.

"So?"

"None of us have been out here."

"What's that?" Eric gestured to the red cloth.

"It's proof." Nathan studied the piece of paper that he had unfolded. "We're not alone." The piece of paper read 'HELP'.

"Maybe it's Sierra." Eric wondered. His sister had been all over the island, but had never mentioned tying cloth around trees.

"I don't know. Let's go ask."

* * *

Back at camp Lex was trying to fix the radio. He attached the wires, and plugged in the receiver, but only got static.

Daley and Melissa were inside the plane, taking out the chairs so they would have something to sit on.

"This is so smart." Melissa stated as they began carrying out on of the plane seats.

"Really, I'm so tired of sitting in sand all day." Daley replied.

Melissa's eyes caught something shining in the light. "Oh! Wait, look…"

"What is it?"

They both moved over to the hole in the side of the plane. "I think it's-" The thing dropped behind the plastic of the siding. "Oh no, it was a necklace! It fell down there!" Melissa tried to find the necklace with her fingers, but to no avail.

"No problem," Daley moved to another area in the plane and looked through her bag. She pulled out a piece of wire, and used it to fiddle around inside the plane. The hook on the end of the wire pulled out a beautiful purple lapis lazuli necklace. "Ta-daa!"

"Oh yes!"

"Wow, it really is beautiful."

"Whose is it?"

"I don't know, I've never seen it before."

"It really is pretty. What should we do with it?" The two friends looked at each other. Each of them wanted the necklace, but neither of them wanted to claim it.

* * *

Jackson was a bit further away from the plane, trying to open a rock.

"Hey Jackson, you gotta see this!" Nathan and Eric were running towards him.

"I'm the one who found it!" Eric yelled, a bit further behind then Nathan.

"It was tied to a tree by a piece of cloth." Nathan handed the note to his leader.

"Yeah! Red cloth. That's why I saw it!"

"We left it there so we could find it again."

"Well who put it there?" Jackson asked. Sierra sauntered up behind him. She had been out in the ocean, looking for fish. She was dripping wet, and the red bikini that she had borrowed from Taylor was sticking to her body.

"That's the point! None of us! It's too far out." Jackson turned the note so that Sierra could see. She was slightly surprised; she hadn't announced her arrival, but Jackson knew she was there anyway.

"It ain't mine," she shrugged. She was slightly shivering as the ocean was so cold. Not even thinking about it, Jackson put his arm around her and began rubbing it. The friction and his body heat helped warm her up slightly.

"Well then it must be from the pilot and the others." Jackson said as he handed the note back to Nathan.

"Maybe," Eric snatched the note away from Nathan and held it up so all could see. "Or maybe there's someone else on the island."

"Either way, somebody's in trouble."

"Thinking that there's somebody else on the island is pushing your luck. What are the odds that three planes crash at the same island, and nobody finds them?" Sierra questioned her brothers thinking process. "I've been wandering around this island for ages, and there's nobody else here." With that, she walked away, back to the plane to get changed.

* * *

Taylor was just bringing the sleeping bags out for washing when Melissa and Daley exited the plane, each carrying a plane seat. Taylor picked up the water jug when Daley dropped her seat, and ran over, yelling "Whoa! Stop! What're you doing?"

"Well, no offense but it's getting a little rank in that tent. These need a good rinse."

"You don't wash sleeping bags!" Daley said loudly.

"Not unless you want them to smell like old sneakers." Melissa added.

"But they, like, reek." Taylor argued.

"So you air them out." Daley bent and began taking the bags away.

Taylor dropped the water jug. "Well that better work, because I'm, like, gagging in there."

Melissa pulled out the purple necklace and held it out to Taylor. "Look what I found," she said quietly, trying to make sure Daley wouldn't hear her.

"Wo-ow!"

"Is it yours?"

"I wish!" Taylor paused. "I mean, yes. Yes it is." She gathered it up in her hand just as Daley came back. Daley pulled the pretty necklace from her hand.

"Yeah right. We haven't decided what to do with it yet."

Melissa brushed her hair back nervously. "Actually, I was thinking that, since I found it, I should keep it."

Daley's brow furrowed. "That's not a gimme, I'm the one who got it out of the plane, remember?"

"But I found it. Finders, keepers, right?" Taylor's head bounced back and forth, as if she were watching a tennis match.

"Breaking news! That's not actually a law!"

Melissa grabbed the necklace and began walking away. "Ugh, come on Daley! Can't you just let somebody else have their way for once?"

"I don't always get my way!"

"Yeah you do!" Melissa retaliated like a six year old.

"I resent that!"

"But it's true! I'm not gonna let you bully me this time! I think I should get to keep the necklace."

"Bully? Well you know what I think? I think it should be mine!" Daley snatched the necklace back.

Taylor gently eased her way between the two friends to pluck the necklace from Daley's grasp. "Well, until you two kids can settle this, I'll keep it safe." Taylor gathered the necklace in her hands and walked off.

Melissa's hands began to shake. "You are so unfair!"

"You are so juvenile!"

"I don't believe you just said that!" Melissa gasped.

"I don't believe you're such a baby!" Daley began storming off, just to come face-to-face with Sierra, freshly changed into a pair of white Capri and a white halter top. Daley nearly pushed her to the ground as she pushed by her.

"What happened?" As soon as Melissa saw her, she wanted to scream. She looked like a freaking angel! She fit in so perfectly! What was Melissa supposed to do?

"Gah!" Melissa stormed the opposite way of Daley.

* * *

Later, when everyone was congregated, Nathan held up the sign he and Eric had found.

"The bottom line: Somebody's out there." he said as he finished his speech.

"Did I mention that I was the one who found it?" Eric asked. Sierra, who was sitting with her back against Jackson's legs, reached out and grabbed her brother, pulling him to the ground beside her.

"It might be Captain Russell and the others," Lex continued, acting as if there had been no interruption.

"But if it is it means that he got them lost. Again!" Taylor piped.

"It's easy to get lost on the island. It's a huge labyrinth out there." Sierra spoke, resting her head on Jackson's knees to stare up at him. He was sitting on the log that was placed underneath the wing of the plane.

"Well, whoever it is, they need help." Melissa said. She remembered how it felt to be lost on the island, even for a few hours.

"Let's go take a look around." Jackson said.

"Well, we can start where we found the note." Nathan added.

"Hey, I found the note!" Eric said, beginning to stand again. He stopped when he felt Sierra's hand grasp his shirt again.

"Lex, you stay here in case somebody shows up."

"Got it," he replied, not about to deny his leader.

Daley stood up. "When we get there we should split up into two search groups. Jackson, take Eric and Taylor-"

"Uh, that doesn't work for me." Melissa stood.

"Excuse me?" Daley looked at Melissa as if she were a bug.

"What if I don't want to be in your group?"

"Oh please, will you stop being such a baby!?!" Daley walked away just as the rest of the group got up to give them some privacy.

"Uh, will you stop being so bossy?" Melissa mumbled under her breath.

"Wow! I think I'll meet difficult." Taylor mumbled as she walked after Daley, Lex running after her.

* * *

Jackson and Sierra pushed their way through the brush, trailing behind Nathan and Eric. Melissa, Taylor, and Daley were behind them.

"So who do you think put the note there?" Jackson asked his female companion.

"Well, it definitely wasn't me. I left notes around the outskirts of the island, not in the middle of it. It was probably the other people that were on the plane with you. Abby, Jory, Ian, and Captain Russell, right?"

"Yeah. That's who I think it is too, but it worries me."

"Because they might be lost?"

Jackson smiled ruefully. "Yeah," he sighed.

"If we don't find them, I'll go looking for them," she offered.

"I couldn't ask you to do that." Jackson knew that if he let her go, the odds of seeing her again were slim. She had told him how large the island was, and he knew that the odds of her finding the others were slim.

"I'm smart, Jackson. I can find them."

"We'll get to that if the time comes." She smiled and walked into him, pushing him slightly off the path. He did the same thing to her once they were both back on the path. She began laughing and went to try and throw him off balance again. He surprised her by wrapping his arm around her at the last second and pulling her into himself.

Meanwhile, Eric and Nathan had come to a fork in the road. Eric looked around for the piece of cloth they had found earlier that morning. "Okay, it's that way." Eric said, pointing to the left. "Or…no, over there," he switched around to pint to the right. "Maybe it's over here." Jackson rolled his eyes. "Oh," Eric laughed. "I remember that tree…but, it kinda looks like that tree." Eric looked to the left again. "Or maybe its-"

"Hey!" Eric looked over to where Nathan was standing. Nathan had his hands on a slim sapling with a red piece of cloth tied around it.

"Over there. I knew it." Eric finished his sentence as if Nathan had never interrupted him. He walked over to Nathan as if he had always known were the tree was. Everyone else, after sharing a glance at how stupid Eric had looked, ran after him.

Nathan untied the piece of cloth from the tree and examined it. "It looks like it was ripped from a shirt," he said the last word as if he were unsure. Sierra glanced at the piece of cloth.

"Well, it's definitely not mine. I have no red clothing here."

"Well, how do we know which way to look?" Melissa asked. Sierra began looking around the immediate area, trying to decipher which way the person had gone. There were exiting tracks every which way, and it didn't help that Nathan and Eric had been through the area before. She had spent her extra time on the island learning how to track things. When you're stuck on an island for three years with nothing better to do, you start teaching yourself trivial talents and such. Sierra had accomplished putting her legs above her head while on her stomach, and bringing them down to touch the floor. And, of course, she was a fairly accomplished tracker. She straightened up and looked back at Melissa, shrugging her shoulders.

"Well, they're not toward camp," Jackson said, looking to Sierra, who nodded in confirmation. "So, how 'bout one group goes East and the other goes West?"

"Alright, I'll go East." Nathan said, looking around. "Who's with me?"

"I'll go." Taylor said, putting up her hand, and walking off to her right.

Daley looked after her. "That's West!"

Taylor marched back. "Just testing!"

Daley looked up at Jackson. "Alright, I'll baby-sit Taylor. You baby-sit Melissa." After a small nod of agreement from Jackson, she walked off after Taylor. Melissa, however, looked flabbergasted. _She_ had to be babysat? Since when!

"You're so mean!" she shouted after her, stomping off in the West-ward direction.

Jackson looked at Sierra. "What're you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna go South for a bit. Just make sure Eric doesn't get lost, alright?"

Jackson chuckled. "Alright. Be careful though. If you're not back in a couple of hours, I'm coming out to look for you."

"No need. This place is my home; I can't get lost here."

"Okay," he smiled at her, and nearly leaned in to kiss her cheek but stopped himself. His words from two days previous rung in his ears: _"since we all have to live with each other here…I think it would be kinda weird for any of us to, you know…"_ Instead, he squeezed her arm gently. "Be safe."

"Always am."

* * *

Eric, Melissa, and Jackson headed West. They yelled and called for anybody that could hear them. Eric was a few feet ahead of Jackson and Melissa.

Jackson stopped yelling to catch his breath. "So, what's the deal with you and Daley?"

"Nothing," Melissa said with conviction. Jackson waited for a few seconds. "…Except that I totally hate her right now."

Jackson almost laughed. "Glad it's nothing," he replied, shaking his head.

* * *

Meanwhile, Nathan and Taylor and Daley headed East. They called for their missing comrades, until Daley spotted another note.

Daley pointed it out. "There!" She and her search party ran towards it. She pulled out the note and read it. It was nothing different than the one they found previously.

"We're going the right way." Nathan stated.

Taylor realized something that they were all forgetting. "But is this the way they were coming from, or the way they were going to?" From the moment Taylor opened her mouth, Daley and Nathan had turned together to share a laugh over Taylor's stupid idea. They began chuckling but then realized that Taylor might actually be right.

"You know, she's right!" Nathan said, amazed.

"Yeah, let's just keep going." Daley said, unwilling to admit that Taylor might be correct. Nathan followed after. Taylor paused and smiled to herself.

* * *

Sierra headed South, but to no avail. There was no note for a quarter mile, so she turned and headed back to camp. She found Lex there, looking bored.

"Hey kiddo, what's shaking?" Sierra collapsed beside him, in one of the plane chairs.

"I'm really bored," he replied. "I hate being the youngest. Daley makes me stay back whenever they go out exploring." Lex kicked at the sand.

"Tell you what," she replied. "I'll talk to Daley about taking you out with me on one of the safer trails. No poisonous plants or rabbit holes, or anything like that." Taking in his disappointed visage, she added, "The safer trails are always the darkest. There's no light at all and there's trees on both sides."

"Cool!"

"Alright, I can talk to her when she gets back. Until then," she pulled out the pack of cards she always kept with her. "Wanna play some cards?"

* * *

Melissa, Jackson and Eric were walking along the trail when Melissa spotted a footprint in the mud.

"Hey, over here!" She pointed to the footprint. "Look!"

Jackson bent down to take a closer look. "It's a hiking boot. It's a girl, or a really small guy."

"Or a big guy with creepy, small feet." Eric added. Jackson looked at him and shook his head.

"It's pointed this way so…" he paused and looked down the trail. "Let's go."

* * *

Nathan ducked underneath the root of a tree, turned, and held his hand out to Taylor to help her through.

"Hey, cool necklace," he said, pointing to the lapis lazuli chain that Melissa and Daley were fighting over. "You been hiding that?"

Daley came up behind them. "Don't get used to it."

Nathan looked confused. "I think its best you don't know." Taylor told him. She turned and walked after Daley.

* * *

"Do you have any twos?" Lex asked Sierra.

"Go fish," she replied.

"Hey Sierra?"

She studied her cards. "Hmmm?"

"What's it like being a twin?"

She looked up at Lex. "Why, kiddo? What's got you thinking about that?"

"I dunno. I just think it would be cool to be that close to somebody. Then you'd never feel left out."

"Lex…" Sierra paused until she was sure he wouldn't take offense. "Are-are you feeling left out?"

He sighed. "A little bit. I'm always the youngest. I'm 12 years old, but I was put up a grade because I'm 'gifted'. I'm the youngest kid at school so I have no one to talk to. Daley's always off with Nathan and Melissa, Eric could care less about me, Taylor's too self-centered to even notice I exist. The only person I have is Jackson, and now…"

"And now I'm always with Jackson, so you think you have nobody." Sierra looked down, feeling like she was about to cry. She had been on her own for three years and had not shed a tear, not even when she broke her leg and had to hobble around on it in order to survive. But this kid, this 12 year old kid was bringing all her emotions back to the frontlines. When Lex nodded his head, she actually let a tear slide down her face. "Lex, I didn't mean to take Jackson away from you. But he's the only one that gets what I went through. Eric tries to understand, but he can't. I've broken bones, I've nearly died of starvation, I almost got myself killed in the middle of a hurricane. Nobody understands what I've gone through, but Jackson…" she paused, not about to reveal the secret Jackson had entrusted to her. "Jackson's…different."

"I know. I'm-I'm sorry about what I said. I didn't mean it. But sometimes I feel like I'm just Daley's kid step-brother, or the smart kid that supposed to figure stuff out."

"Oh Lex, nobody's thinks of you like that. You saw what happened yesterday. Your birthday brought everyone together."

"I guess."

"Here's an idea. Every time you feel left out, come find me. No matter what I'm doing, I'll drop it and we'll sit here and play a round of cards, okay? I'll never be too busy for you." Sierra held out her arms and enveloped Lex in a warm hug.

"Okay."

* * *

Jackson and Melissa wandered down the path with Eric in front of them. All of a sudden Eric took off down the path and stopped short, staring at something.

"Uh-oh!" Eric said, obviously stunned at the sight in front of him. Melissa and Jackson ran over to stand behind him. Eric pointed at a piece of red cloth tied around a tree, then at the body lying next to it.

"Oh man!" Melissa gasped.

"Eric, go get the others fast." Jackson commanded quietly.

"Me? Wh-why can't Mel-" Eric stumbled over his words.

"Just go!" Jackson yelled, pushing him off in the direction they had come.

As Eric left, Melissa whispered, "I'm scared."

Jackson reached out to her, and then pulled his hand back, unsure of what to do. He reached out once again and pushed her back a few steps. "Just stay here."

Melissa sighed, and then grabbed his arm, following behind him. "No chance."

They proceeded to walk towards the unconscious woman.

* * *

Eric ran as fast as he could in the direction that Daley and Co. had marched over half an hour ago. He couldn't stop seeing Abby's broken body lying in front of him. Eric had seen a lot of blood in his time. Rumbles were a huge pass time in Chino. He had been beaten, he had watched his sister nearly beaten to death, and he had watched his older brother kill a guy. Death and injury had just become a way of life for him. But not since he moved to L.A. Now he had real friends that didn't care if he was the toughest kid on the block. He hadn't had to beat anyone up in over two years. When he had signed up for this trip, he hadn't expected to be thrust back into his old life so immediately.

He soon spotted Daley up ahead. He jumped the log that sat in his way, and ran in her direction. "Hey! Hey!" he yelled, panting for breath. He slowed to a stop beside her. Nathan and Taylor were a few steps behind her. "We found somebody! Well, technically I did cuz the guys were-" Eric spewed his words out as quickly as he could.

"Who is it?"

"Where'd they come from?"

"Are we rescued?"

"I-I don't know, I don't even know if they're alive. I just-" Nathan, Daley, and Taylor ran off in the direction he had come from. Eric rolled his eyes and bent double to catch his breath. After a few deep breaths, he ran after them.

* * *

Melissa slowly approached the woman on the ground. "Hello? Are you okay?" Jackson gently turned the body over and brushed the hair out of her face. Melissa gasped in recognition. "It's Abby!" Jackson bent and put his ear to her mouth. "Is she...?"

"Yeah, she's breathing."

"What do you think happened? Where're the others? Her pack is gone, why is she alone?" Melissa was on the verge of panicking.

"We'll worry about that stuff later, okay?"

"Of course." Melissa felt like Jackson was treating her like the child Daley claimed she was. And it hurt! Melissa knew how to do things right! I mean, she had saved Eric's life, after all.

Jackson bent to speak in Abby's ear. "Abby. Abby, come on, wake up." Nothing. No response, whatsoever. Jackson looked up helplessly at Melissa. "I don't know what to do," he admitted.

"Okay." Melissa took a deep breath. "Okay. She needs water." Jackson reached behind himself and grabbed his water bottle. He poured some into her open mouth.

He felt her forehead. "She's hot." Her temperature was skyrocketing as they spoke.

"We should get her back to camp."

Heavy footsteps broke the silence. "Jackson!" Nathan ran down a slight hill and came to a stop in front of them. Daley and Eric followed. "Who is it?"

"Abby." Nathan stared at his best friend.

"Is she okay?" Daley asked, taking charge of the situation.

"Does she look okay?" Jackson snapped. Normally he could put up with Daley thinking she was the boss of him, but today was different. There was no way of knowing if Abby would be alright.

"She's hot. I think she might have a fever." Daley told the group, ignoring Jackson's comment.

Taylor finally caught up with the group. "Whoa, Abby. She looks bad," she said, stating the obvious. "And that's saying something because normally she's, like, gorgeous."

"We should get her back to camp." Daley said.

"That's what I said." Melissa argued.

"Well, is she okay to move?" Nathan asked.

"I don't know."

"Let me through!" Sierra's voice commanded. Eric was coming up behind her. Nobody had noticed him leaving because they were all arguing over what to do with Abby. She quickly knelt down beside Jackson and started examining Abby. She checked her head, her eyes, and her back. "She looks okay to move. She has a nasty bump on her head, though, so be careful while moving her."

"Okay." Daley turned to Melissa. "Go back to camp and tell Lex to get the First Aid kit ready. Oh, and go down to the ocean to get some water to cool her off."

"Why don't you?"

Daley ignored her. "Oh, and some T-shirts. We can dip those in the water to cool her down."

Melissa looked from Daley to Abby's still body. "Fine," she sighed as she rose and ran in the direction of camp.

"Go with her, Taylor."

"No! You help her!"

"Okay, then stay here and help us carry her."

"No, no, no. It's okay. I'll go," she replied as she scurried away after Melissa.

Jackson looked up at Nathan. "Are you up for this?" Nathan and Abby were like best friends.

"Let's do it." Nathan bent to help Jackson with her comatose body. Jackson and Daley carried her head and shoulders while Nathan and Eric juggled her legs and back.

Sierra stood up. "I know a quicker route back to camp. We should get her there as quickly as possible. The path is more treacherous, but it'll cut about 5 minutes off of travel time."

"Well then, let's go."

* * *

Back at camp Lex was still fiddling with the radio. Eric had come back to camp 15 minutes previous and, after a few harshly whispered sentences, he had grabbed Sierra and taken off.

"Lex! Lex!" He heard female voices screaming his name. He stood up and peered around the plane. Melissa was running towards him.

"Lex!" Melissa put her hands on the roof of the plane. "It's Abby. She's unconscious and dehydrated-"

"I'll cool off some clean water. You get T-shirts we can soak to cool her down." Lex immediately ran off to do what he had said, leaving Melissa staring after him with a dumbstruck expression on her face.

"Uhh, yeah! Right," she said as she moved off towards the tents. "How does he know so much?"

She ran off just as Taylor showed up. She looked after Melissa for a few seconds. "And I had to run back here because…" she exclaimed. She turned and ran off to help Melissa.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jackson and the gang of survivors were struggling to carry the unconscious Abby.

"There has _got_ to be a better way to do _this_!" Eric claimed, as he stumbled on the rocky terrain.

"Hold on! Stop, stop, stop." Jackson slowed down to ensure that everyone else would. "Let's stop fooling around." Nathan helped Daley fold Abby over Jackson's shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"Well, I could do that too!" Nathan announced.

"You'll get your chance." Jackson was already tired from carrying all of Abby's weight on one shoulder. He moved forward towards Sierra, who put a hand on his broad back to steady him as he walked across the mountainous terrain.

* * *

Taylor was sitting in one of the plane chairs when she heard Daley yell, "Get the water!"

"Hey! They're back!" Taylor ran to get Lex.

"Okay, put her over here!" Melissa laid out one of the sleeping bags. Nathan slowly moved over to it, weighed down by Abby's form.

Everyone was giving Nathan instructions on what to do. "Watch her head," he kept repeating to himself over and over. They finally got her down on the sleeping bag. Water was passed around to everyone to dampen T-shirts with to press to her forehead and wrists.

Lex came over with the ocean water. "This is as cool as it gets."

"Her sunburn is really bad. We've gotta keep her cool."

"There's aspirin in the First Aid kit. I could mix some with water."

"Good. Go!" Daley gestured for her step-brother to do what he had just said.

"I'll get some slat tablets too!" He ran off.

"How does he know so much?"

"I think we should keep her in the shade until the sun goes down."

"We can put her in our tent." With the argument over the necklace forgotten in the haste to save Abby, Melissa and Daley were acting like mature, responsible adults.

"Well, what can we do?" Nathan asked, hovering over the scene.

"Okay, we're gonna need a lot more cool water to keep her body temperature down."

"I'm on it!" Jackson ran off towards the ocean.

"I'll go build a fire." Eric said, doing something useful for once. Nathan followed him.

"Is she going to be okay?" Taylor asked. Melissa and Daley shared a look and then continued to place damp cloth on every visible part of Abby's body.

* * *

In all the hustle and bustle of finding Abby again, Sierra went unnoticed as she shrank into the shadows of the forest and disappeared. She walked in the direction she had gone that morning, looking for the mysterious note leaver. She knew that they weren't meaning to forget about her. Heck, she was sure that once Abby was in the clear, Jackson and Eric and Lex would begin to look for her and wonder where she went. But after being alone for three years she felt…strangled by the excitement. That's why she preferred to hang out with Jackson. He was such a calming influence on her. He kept her from going haywire with the onslaught of emotions.

She wandered until she heard the rumbling sound of falling water. She climbed up the cliff that framed the beautiful waterfall. She edged her way into the cave hidden by the falling water. It reminded her of George of the Jungle, which had been her favourite movie as a child. She and Eric had snuck in to see it in the theatre half-a-dozen times. The cave where George and Ursula spent the night reminded her so much of this place that she had found. She sat cross legged on the floor of the cave, listening to the roar of water. She sat and waited for someone to try and find her.

* * *

The Flight 29 Dwn survivors had a fairly good system in place. Lex was mixing water with aspirin, Eric was tending the fire to boil the water, Taylor was getting the water from the ocean, and Jackson was carrying Taylor's water up to where Eric was and bringing the empty containers back for Taylor to fill.

Daley and Melissa had Jackson abandon his job for a few moments in order for him to carry Abby up to the girls' tent. Then Melissa and Daley continued placing damp cloths on her forehead.

Eric sat staring into the fire. "I didn't think anything truly bad would happen to any of us. 'Til now." Jackson sat beside him.

"Well what about Ian… and Jory…and that pilot person? Why weren't they together?" Taylor asked.

"They've gotta turn up sooner or later." Nathan replied.

"Unless they're in worse shape than Abby." Eric added quietly. Jackson looked at him, but Eric had already put his head down. All he could think about was: what if they had found Sierra in a similar position?

* * *

Melissa and Daley waited outside the tent.

"What else can we do?" Melissa asked.

"We've done all we can." Daley replied.

"This whole trip has been a bad dream that keeps getting worse." Melissa commented.

"We've done our best and…whatever happens, we have to remember that." Her red-headed friend said.

Melissa began to cry. Daley held her arms out and they hugged. Daley began crying as well.

"I wish I had your confidence."

Daley looked down for a moment. "Look, I know-I know that I'm…sometimes a little overbearing." Melissa looked down at her feet and sniffed. "Mel, you're such…you're such a totally sane, selfless person. And I'm sorry about what I said. Please don't change."

Melissa looked up and smiled. "Thank you. I'm sorry too."

"Daley…" A weak voice called.

"We're over here Taylor!" She lowered her voice again, not wanting to disturb Abby. "And you know what, you found the necklace. You should keep it."

Melissa snorted. "What necklace?" She laughed.

"Yeah, really."

"Daley…" The voice got slightly stronger.

"We're over here Taylor!" she called again.

"We should just give it to Taylor." Melissa said. "It's more her style anyway."

"Perfect!"

"Daley!"

"Taylor, we're over here!"

Melissa looked confused. "That didn't sound like Taylor." Realization passed over their eyes as they got up and ran towards the tent.

Abby was just sitting up and removing the cloths. "Can I get some water?"

Melissa passed the water bottle to Daley, who held it to Abby's mouth.

"Take it easy, drink slowly. We don't want you choking now."

"You're dehydrated but you're going to be okay." Melissa added gently.

"Where am I?"

"You just joined Club 29 Dwn." Melissa and Daley smiled and laughed. "Welcome to the party."

* * *

Lex kept turning knobs and pressing buttons on the radio. All he got was static, static, static.

Taylor, Nathan, Jackson and Eric paced outside of the tent. Taylor held her hands out to stop them when they heard the zipper moving. Daley got out and got questions thrown at her like wildfire. She wasn't able to get a word in until she finally yelled, "She's really weak okay! We've gotta give her time to adjust." Everyone agreed.

Melissa helped Abby out of the tent and people immediately started calling her name and asking questions. Abby ignored them and continued on her way to sit in one of the chairs.

"Thanks everyone." Abby said, taking in the faces of her friends. "I didn't think I'd make it."

"Yeah," Eric rolled his eyes. "Neither did we." Daley cow-kicked him. "Ow!"

Abby stared at Taylor's neck. "Hey! You found it!"

"Found what?"

"My necklace." Melissa mouth opened in shock. "I took it off before the crash because I was afraid I might choke or something. I thought I'd never see it again."

"Yeah…well…" Taylor sighed and took off the necklace. "We were just keeping it safe for ya." She tossed the necklace to her.

"Abby, what happened?" Nathan asked. "Where's everybody else?"

"You're not gonna believe what I've been through." Abby chuckled slightly.

Jackson bent to look her in the eye. "We have somebody who might." Jackson looked around for Sierra. "Where is she?"

Eric looked around. "I could've sworn she was here."

"Has anybody seen her since we brought Abby into camp?" Jackson asked. As everybody shook their heads, he got slightly alarmed. "We need to find her."

"Who?" Abby asked.

"Sierra."

**A/N:** Boy howdy, that was a long one. Not much Sierra in it, and too much Abby for my tastes, but oh well. That's the way the episode goes. Please review. I will not update again until I have at least 3 reviews.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Thanks to TheBeautyInEverything for being my first reviewer for the chapter, and also for inspiring me for this chapter. That's why I dedicate this chapter to her. Thank you for all your help. I was going to take your advice, but I just couldn't make the idea work with my other ideas for future chapters. I have got to apologize for my prolonged absence, I've been going through some stuff. Had a bad argument with my best friend, been busy acting, my grandmother's not doing so well, I took a trip this summer when I was going to do most of my updating, and now I'm in my graduating year, so I'm really busy with school work. I hope you guys can forgive me, because if you can, I'll update maybe twice in my upcoming time off!

**Chapter 4**

Sierra sat in her quiet sanctuary. Well, quiet of excitement. The roaring water of the waterfall prohibited the immediate area from being quiet. The water cascaded over her cave, blocking it from view. This was her element. Silence, solitude, independence. She used to be quiet social; living in her neighbourhood in Chino meant that you knew all the kids.

Back in Chino there would be street-wide games of tag, Man-Hunt, and Hide-and-Seek, not to mention rumbles. She hated how she had changed. When she had first seen Melissa sitting on the ledge, she had actually contemplated going another way. The sight of another human had scared the living crap out of her. But then her human side overtook her animalistic instincts, and she had proceeded to see what had happened. She hated how weak her social skills had become. She kept saying whatever was on her mind. When she had insinuated that Daley was being a bitch the first day they were together, she hadn't meant it. She just got irritated with being cut off continuously, and it had just come out. She hated that. That was why she liked Jackson so much: they never had actual conversations. Sure, they made comments, and they talked about random topics that came up. But he never forced her to speak about her experiences. Not like Eric. Whenever she wasn't with Jackson, Eric would pounce on her. He would ask her about her years on the island, and then get mad if she didn't talk about it. He even thought that she was telling Jackson all about her experiences.

Eric was different then he had been in Chino. He was more polite, but he was pushier. He had become a walking contradiction. He was involved, but he was lazy. He was polite, but pushy. He was respectful, but disrespectful. Sierra couldn't help but wonder if the change was due to her, or due to their parents divorce. He was also really egotistical; then again he had always been that way. That was how she had gotten a lot of her scars: by pulling him out of 'I'm-better-then-you-are' fights. Seeing him on the island was a slap in the face for Sierra. Was her entire family cursed to end up on this retched spit of land? Were Derek and her father gonna show up in a few months, with no way to get off? At least Eric had friends on the island with him. Daley, Nathan, Taylor, Lex, and Jackson seemed like decent people.

Daley reminded Sierra of her old friend Kim. Kim was bossy, rude, and stuck-up, but also sweet, kind, and compassionate. She could tell that Daley really cared for Lex, and that the reason Daley kept Lex back from danger was just that, danger. Lex was the youngest, the least experienced, and the one that the group depended on for electronic advice. He was also her step-brother, so Daley automatically thought that Lex was her responsibility. She and Nathan bickered like an old married couple, but they always seemed to be able to pull things together when the survivors needed them.

Lex. Sierra laughed to herself. He was such a dorky kid. But in a cute, dorky way. He was sweet, smart, and funny. Being only twelve years old and in high school, having been put up a year, had given him a backbone. The backbone led him to be one of two people that would stand up to Daley. He wouldn't put her in her place, as Sierra had done, but he told her when he thought she was wrong. His and Sierra's earlier discussion had been one of the reasons that she had left. The onslaught of emotions had really thrown her for a loop. She wasn't used to crying, she wasn't used to the sadness, and she wasn't used to hugging people. Lex brought out the protective side of her. She wanted to shield him from everything, but knew that Daley would get in her way.

Sierra's feelings toward Jackson had been another contributing factor to her flee from camp. Because that's what she had done. She had fled, not worried about the others, not worried about how worried they would be when they couldn't find her. Jackson would understand. Even after a couple of days, he understood her better then any of the other survivors. Sierra sighed. She liked him too much for her own good. She was damaged, and not in the brooding bad girl type of way. For three years, she had been inside her own head, her only companion being God. She had literally spoken to air for all of three years, pleading with God, if there is a God, to save her. Her social skills would probably never be up to par again, which meant that they would never be able to have a normal relationship. And she didn't even know if he liked her back. She had heard what he had said to Melissa. He was the leader; he had no time for feelings. And they all had to live together until they were, hopefully, rescued. But he was sweet, and funny, and handsome, and compassionate. He understood her like nobody, even from before the crash, ever had. Sierra could see herself falling into his baby-blue eyes. But she had to keep herself from falling for him. Her instabilities would come between them, and she just knew that the tidal wave of emotions that come with a broken heart would just kill her. Anyways, Sierra was pretty sure that Melissa had a thing for him.

Melissa was a little bit of a piece of work. Defensive, over the top, and the type of girl that tries too hard. Oh, and she got jealous way too easily. Even after being away from civilization for three years, Sierra could still read people like an open book. She could see the looks that Melissa shot at her when she spent a lot of time with Jackson. They were like daggers sheathing themselves in her back, or lasers burning through her skin. Sierra also agreed with Daley to a point. She thought that Melissa was a little childish at times. Running away from the group because she was embarrassed? That was extremely reckless. But Melissa was also soft-hearted. She would never tell the truth straight up. She sugar-coats it and makes it almost impossible to believe.

Taylor was the one who spoke her mind most often. She told you when she didn't like something. She told you why she does things. An honourable quality, but it was enough to make Sierra want to push her off a cliff. She and Eric were basically the same in Sierra's mind. Eric made jokes, Taylor was a joke. She took herself so seriously all the time and Sierra could see what a shallow person she was inside. But then Taylor would do something or say something that made her rethink her opinion of the blond. First Taylor would steal Melissa's tape and broadcast it to the entire island. Then she would go out searching for Melissa and get herself trapped on the same ledge as the girl she was looking for. Sometimes Sierra couldn't believe that Taylor and Nathan had dated at one point.

Nathan was the survivor that Sierra knew least well. Apparently, he was Abby's best friend, Daley's worst enemy, he and Melissa got along really well, and he didn't like anything that threatened normality. That was why he didn't like Jackson. He was the new kid at their school, so he had messed up the well-flowing routine of his day.

Abby was the major reason that Sierra had left camp. She had barely gotten used to the seven friends that she had met; introducing a new body to their well-oiled machine was like social suicide to someone who had virtually no social skills. When she had seen Abby for the first time, she freaked. All she could see were the other people on the plane when the pilot had announced that they were going to have to make an 'emergency landing'. They were all saying goodbye to their families. They were scraped and cut by flying metal and glass. Many died before they even hit the water. From the looks of it, Abby had nearly died trying to save her own life. That's what Sierra had done. She had run into the baggage compartment, found the parachutes, and jumped out of the plane. Abby's present visage reminded Sierra of how she had looked after landing on the island. Bedraggled, cut, bruised, and near-death. But the appearance of another person had, for lack of a better word, scared her. And she was getting ignored in the haste to save this 'Abby' chicks life.

* * *

Jackson, Eric, and Taylor were at the crossroads they had arrived at earlier that morning. With a quick nod, Jackson headed east and Taylor headed west. Eric headed south, his sole focus being on finding his sister. He wanted to speak to Sierra on his own. He headed about two miles on the path until the silence was disrupted by a dim roaring. As he continued walking the roar got continuously louder. The path ended abruptly at a clear meadow. Flowers and trees littered the forest floor. At the far end of the meadow there was a deep blue lake being fed by a waterfall.

"Sierra!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "Come on, Sierra, you can't hide from me! Where are you?" He saw a head peek out from behind the waterfall.

"How did you know I was here?" Sierra yelled back.

"Oh, come on! I'm your twin! Will you please come down from there so we can talk?" He saw her shake her head, but, nevertheless, she dove out of the cave, into the pool of water.

"Okay, I'm here. What do you want?" she asked, climbing out of the pool while ringing out her hair and pulling her shirt away from her body.

"You know, it was really irresponsible to run away like that."

"Oh please. I've been on my own since I crashed here. And anyways, who the hell are you to lecture me on responsibility? You would rather let your own blood take the heat than take any responsibility for anything you've ever done." She rolled her eyes at him and went to lie on a bed of heather. Eric sat on the boulder next to her.

"But still. It doesn't matter that you think you're all tough now that you've survived a plane crash, you could've gotten hurt and we wouldn't have been able to find you. We need you around camp. What if someone else went gallivanting into the woods, huh? We would've been in serious trouble. It's life or death out here!"

"Save it Eric! If the only reason you came to find me is so that you can lecture me about responsibility, than you can save it! I know more about this island than you'll ever know! This island has been my companion since the day of the plane crash! No one else survived the crash, so I've had to worry about myself for three years. I haven't even spoken to anyone since the crash! Do you know how that feels? Obviously not, because you moved on with your life after I left! You and dad moved to L.A., dad remarried, you made some friends. Did you ever even think of me and Derek? Did you!" Sierra began to cry. "Don't you think I wanted to stay with you guys? I wanted to stay and get to know Daley and Lex and Nathan and Jackson. But I haven't spoken to anyone in three years." Eric wrapped her in a hug. He felt that he should have known what she was thinking, and that he should have helped her sooner, rather than act jealous of her friendship with Jackson.

"Shh, it's gonna be alright."

"I never thought I would see you again, so when I did I got really scared." Sierra whimpered in his ear.

"Why?"

"Because I knew that there was no way off the island, and that you were doomed to the same fate I was."

"Hey, we're gonna get through this. I promise."

"You also promised that you would never leave me. But you did…that night." Eric winced. The night of their birthday was a tender subject with him, that's why he never celebrated it. Not only did it not feel right, celebrating without his twin, he knew that three years ago his sister had ended up in a plane crash because he wasn't there for her when she needed him.

"I was an idiot. I got scared when I heard the sirens and I bolted. You know me; it's always been about Number One. But I'm a different person now. This crash, this island…it made me realize that it's not all about me. There are other people hear that need me to be the best I can be…just like they need you now." Sierra looked up and smiled.

"I know that I'm needed now, but I can't go back. Not yet. I'm not used to being around you guys, around people in general. But I'm working on it. I'll get better, I promise. I just need to stay here for a while, okay?"

"Sure. But I'm gonna send people to check on you once in a while, okay?" Sierra smiled.

"Sure."

* * *

Eric walked out of the clearing after having a more light-hearted discussion with Sierra. He reached the crossroads, and began heading back to camp when he heard a voice calling his name. He turned to find Jackson running up the path.

"I couldn't find her anywhere, and I must have run around half the island. Did you find her?" Jackson asked, panting in his exhaustion.

"Yeah, she's down that way. She's kind of freaked out about being around people again. She's gonna stay down there, but she said she would be back soon and that it was okay if we visit her."

"She is coming back though, right?"

"Yep. I'm heading back to camp, I want to see if Abby's okay."

"Yeah, sure. Hey, I'm just gonna go see your sister, alright? I'll be back later."

"'Kay, see you boss-man."

(break break break break break break)

Jackson walked into the clearing and saw Sierra lying by the pool. He walked silently behind her, and sat even more silently beside her.

"Hey," she said, without looking up. "I guess you talked to Eric, huh?"

"Yeah. He told me you were here and that you might like some company."

"So you decided to come and visit?"

"I decided to come and see if you were alright. You must have been pretty freaked out to run away like that."

"Look, Jackson, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but I've already been through all this with Eric. I'm fine; I just need to adjust a little bit to being around people again. So can we just drop it?" Sierra looked pleadingly up at him, and he nodded. After a few minutes of silence, he looked at her.

"So, how did you find this place?"

"Hurricane season can hit this place pretty hard. There was a really rough one that passed through about a year ago, and I had nowhere to go. I was just wandering around with my pack, trying to find a place not completely flooded, and I wandered here. I nearly broke my neck climbing up the side of the waterfall, but there's a small cave behind it, so I hung out there until the hurricane passed. It's peaceful here. It was the first place I thought of coming when I needed a breather."

"It's nice here." They sat in a companionable silence for a few minutes, until Jackson opened his mouth to speak again. "Why did you just take off?"

Sierra sighed. "Lots of reasons. I'm just not used to being around people anymore. I'm just scared of what I've become. I've lost everything."

"No you haven't, you've still go me, and Eric."

* * *

**A/N:** Crappy place to end, I know. But I just got off exams, and I'm still suffering from Exam Brain. But, this chapter will hopefully be the first of many to come during my off time between semesters. Oh, and I have to thank Indescribable Music, for getting me back on track. Thanks for the love and support! Next chapter should be up Monday or Tuesday, if you guys want it.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It turns out that Eric, Taylor (surprisingly), and Eric had only come to look for Sierra after they had heard Abby's story. In the mean time, they had built a lean-to over the fire pit to protect it from the rain.

"It looks pretty good, and it should work. After you told me about the hurricanes, I figured it would be a good idea to protect the fire in case of rain, considering how much of a pain it is to get the thing started. "

"Sounds pretty good. But if hurricane season hits like it did last year, you guys should be looking for shelter, not something to cover the fire. I mean, there's no eastern shore anymore, the floods just destroyed it."

"Well yeah, but if there's just a storm, it should do the trick."

There were a few moments of silence. Jackson and Sierra were perched on the pebble beach of the small pond that the waterfall pooled into, their feet swishing in the water. It was getting to late afternoon, but Jackson couldn't bring himself to leave Sierra. She seemed so… terrified after finding Abby.

"So…How's everyone dealing with the appearance of yet another castaway?"

Jackson chuckled. "Let's just say Taylor seems to like you. She's treating Abby like some sort of slave because they're sharing clothes. Melissa seems jealous, because Nathan and Eric are tripping over their feet trying to help her."

"Oh, and you're not?" Sierra smiled as he grinned ruefully.

"I guess I kind of am. But it's for the same reason I'm helping you. Both of you have had a really hard time, so you should be allowed to lay low for a while, get better, before you have to do anything strenuous."

"Uh-huh. Sure, I believe you." Sierra nudged him with her elbow.

"Good, because it's the truth." He nudged her back, as she giggled.

"So, you're not acting all protective because you like her? Because that's most likely what Melissa thinks."

Jackson laughed. "No, I don't like Abby. And I don't like Melissa, if that's what you're thinking. They're both great girls, but they don't really understand me. I mean, if they knew where I came from, they wouldn't treat me the same way. They wouldn't trust me."

"I don't know, sometimes people can surprise you. Eric would understand."

"Your brother has changed a lot since you've seen him last. And Eric's _really_ not my type." Sierra let out a loud laugh that tinkled on the breeze for minutes after she calmed herself. Jackson smiled at her free spirit and thought, _"If I could spend my entire life trying to make her laugh like that again, I would do it."_ But then he had to remind himself that they were both damaged, probably beyond repair, and that having a relationship on the island would make things supremely awkward. So immersed was he in his thoughts, he didn't realize that Sierra was speaking again.

"…her?"

"Hmm?" He shook his head bashfully. "I didn't catch that."

"So, what type of questions did everyone ask Abby?" Sierra gently repeated, recognizing that Jackson was deep in thought.

"Oh, you know, this and that."

"Come on Jackson, what did they ask her?"

Jackson sighed. "Lex asked her if there was any civilization."

It was Sierra's turn to sigh. "I already told you guys, there's nothing but an old building, probably from World War 2."

"I know, but then we just asked for her story, and let it slide. She told us how she got separated from the others and why she was putting notes on trees. I asked her where the others were going, and she said she didn't know. That's it. Then the three of us took off to come and find you while Lex was doing something with a parachute."

"Okay, I guess it's understandable that everyone wanted reassurance that there was no other life on the island."

"I guess." There were a few more minutes of silence, while the two realized that the time to say goodbye was drawing close. Being the first to stand Jackson asked, "Are you sure you're going to be alright by yourself out here?"

"Positive. I'll be back in a few hours, anyway. I just needed to get away for a while."

"Alright. I'll see you then." Jackson smiled and waved as he left the clearing.

"See you." Sierra whispered softly, but he was already gone.

* * *

Jackson returned to camp and saw that one of the branches that held the lean-to together wasn't bound properly, so he spent a few minutes trying to fix it, until Abby walked up to him.

"Jackson, I've been thinking a lot about what you said." she said, referring to their previous conversation before he had left to search for Sierra.

"About what?" Jackson asked, his mind still replaying the frightened look on Sierra's face when they had found Abby. He was sure that no one but him had noticed it, which was what worried him.

"Excuse me!" Melissa exclaimed, storming up to them. "Am I missing something here?"

Jackson and Abby looked at each other. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Are you two like…like…flirting?"

They both started to laugh. "What? No, no."

"No!" Abby said, laughing along with Jackson as Eric stumbled up the sand to them.

"Hey, if there's flirting going on, I should be involved." Eric said, convinced that Abby had a thing for him.

"You're not my type." Jackson replied, smacking him on the chest and grinning, reminding him of his previous conversation with Sierra.

"Abby!" Nathan ran towards them. "Look, I found your notebook. Isn't that great?" Abby smiled and nodded as he handed her notebook to her.

"But Sierra is your type, huh?" Eric waggled his eyebrows at his leader as if Nathan had never interrupted them.

"And what happened to not wanting to make things weird by having relationships here?" Melissa continued, aware of the pain in her chest as Eric confirmed what she had known all along. She may have thought she was over Jackson, but every teenager knows that crushes are hard to get over.

"I wasn't-I'm not-" Jackson struggled to defend himself from Melissa's attacks while Taylor joined them.

"Abby! You left my clothes on the beach." Abby could feel a headache coming on. "What kind of a sister are you?"

"Taylor, I'm sorry. I-"

"Hey, remember me?" Eric interrupted. "Guy who saved your life?" This question was the one that triggered the full-scale argument. Everyone began screaming and yelling at each other. Melissa bent to but her place fuel/coconut shell candle in the sand so that she could point and yell at Jackson without having anything in her hands. No body noticed as Sierra walked into camp, or the frightened look in her eyes as she saw them all shouting and yelling. She could hear fragmented parts of the argument. _"We were both there; we saw the note at the same time." "Why were you flirting with her?"_ She was the only one who noticed the flames from the candle start climbing up the side of the lean-to.

"Guys! Guys!" Nobody heard her, but Lex and Daley saw the wisps of smoke and hurried to the side of the fire pit.

"Guys!" Daley yelled louder than Sierra had, the latter's voice being weaker from lack of use. "Guys, look!"

"What?" Nathan snapped at her.

"Look! Fire!" They all stared as the flames slowly consumed the bamboo wood.

"If it gets to the jungle, we're done." Nathan realized, noting how their entire food source and water source came from the jungle that consumed the island.

"Water. Get water!" Jackson commanded, which caused everyone to run to the ocean and begin filling up their water tanks and water bottles. Jackson and Nathan sprayed the water onto the flames continuously, often having to run back for more water. Sierra stood back, remembering other fires from her past. When the group's hangout was burned to the ground, the police called it an accident, but they knew it was arson. Sierra shuddered as she remembered the flames licking over her jacket and clothes. She had a few scars from that experience. Only one fire had occurred on the island, and that started from a lightening strike. Half the western shore's jungle was wiped clean before the rain cooled the flames. Her entire left foot had been badly burned from trying to escape the flames. Sierra started shaking as she slowly backed away from the fire; her fist jammed into her mouth to hold in the screams of terror.

After what seemed like hours the flames had died down, and the lean-to had fallen in on itself, successfully keeping out any oxygen that would have fueled the fire. Nathan continued spraying water on the fire while Jackson shoveled sand over the burning embers.

When the fire was successfully extinguished, Daley asked, "Okay. Who lit a fire outside the pit?"

"It was a candle. If Jackson wasn't all 'gaga' over Abby, he wouldn't have kicked it over."

"I'm not gaga over Abby." Jackson replied.

"It was a stupid idea anyway," Taylor added, referring to the lean-to. "Of course it'd burn."

"It wasn't stupid!" Nathan exclaimed. "It was to protect the fire!"

"Yeah?" Eric looked at Nathan sarcastically. "And what was supposed to protect the roof?" The argument reignited as quickly as the fire had taken the lean-to. They began yelling about being 'gaga', and leaving the fire inside the pit, and being responsible.

Sierra's shaking worsened. "Stop it," she whispered. "STOP IT!" Everyone turned to look at her. "Look at all of you! A family ready to kill each other because of some stupid fire! Because of Abby just showing up here!"

"This isn't about Ab-"

"Of course it is Nathan! Everyone is trying to get the attention of the new girl! Everyone but Lex! Gosh, you guys are like freaking kids at Christmas time! The second a new toy is unwrapped, you completely forget about the one you just unwrapped! If something like this can have you at each others throats, then this is going to turn into the damn Lord of the Flies! If you think this is bad, you don't know anything about bad circumstances!" Sierra continued yelling at them about how bad things were going to get. "But if this is all it takes to set you guys apart, I'm not sticking around to watch it." She turned to walk away from the campsite, but turned and stared at them. "I thought you guys were strong enough to beat this island…Guess I was wrong."

As she stepped into the trees surrounding the campsite, Jackson broke away from the group. "Sierra!" He ran after her. "Sierra! You can't keep running from your problems." As they both disappeared into the trees, everyone was shaken from their stupor, and looked at one another. Abby walked off towards the shore to stare out into the ocean.

* * *

Jackson followed Sierra out of the campsite and towards her private sanctuary. He kept at a respectable distance, and resolved not to say anything until they got to the waterfall clearing. Half an hour later, when they reached the clearing, Sierra didn't stop. She walked up to the rock face of the waterfall, and quickly began scaling it. Jackson, who knew a little about rock climbing, walked up to the wall and examined it. He identified all the hand- and footholds, and slowly began scaling the wall behind her. He reached the top of the wall in time to see her slip past the curtain of water and settle into a small, but cozy, cave. He slipped in behind her and sat against the wall opposite to where she was sitting. She rested her head back against her wall and tried to stop the tears and the shuddering that overtook her on the walk to the cave.

"You know," Jackson cleared his throat when she stopped shaking. "You can't keep running away from your problems."

"And why not, Jackson? I'm good at it. Eric and I lived for number one for so long, that I'm good at running whenever things get bad. We got so good at it that there used to be a saying, 'When the going gets tough, the McGorrills get going.' So just let me run, okay?" Sierra's voice took on the tone that all voices take when someone has been crying.

"No!" Jackson said so loudly that Sierra jumped. "I'm not going to let you run away. You run away, I'm going to follow you, you got that?"

"Why? I'm of no use to anybody at camp."

"You're the only one who gets me! Eric would miss you, and didn't you promise Lex that you would be there for him?"

"Well…yeah, but-"

"But nothing! We need you!"

"I can't handle it Jackson!" Sierra cried in despair, curling over to lay her head in Jackson's lap. "It's like everything is coming at me from all sides."

"What's coming at you?"

"My emotions. You don't know how long it's been since I've actually had to feel something. And now there's Lex, and Abby, and Eric."

"Well, they all understand."

"…and you." she added so quietly that he almost didn't hear her. He decided not to comment on that, even as his heart started pounding like a drum. Despite his will not to mention that he heard her, his fingers started combing through her hair, causing her to sigh and snuggle down farther into his thighs. He could feel her relax against him.

"We'll help you. We're all going through the same thing. You have to get used to us, and we have to get used to you, right?"

"Yeah," she yawned. "I guess so."

"No guessing. We're all in this together now. Now, go to sleep for a little bit. You've had a busy day, and it's only going to get worse when we go back to camp."

"Okay Cody." Sierra mumbled. And suddenly, Jackson never liked his first name more.

* * *

Abby looked around camp. Melissa was cleaning up the mess from the fire while Nathan was bringing in more wood for the fire pit. Daley was putting more rocks around the pit, a little scared that the fire had caught so quickly, so she figured the more protection, the better. Jackson was sitting under a palm tree, whittling a stick with Sierra asleep in his lap. Abby didn't miss the looks that Melissa was shooting at them. Taylor was sunbathing; Eric was floating in the ocean. Lex was underneath the wing of the plane, trying to get the radio to work.

Abby sighed. Sierra and Jackson had returned to camp half an hour ago. Sierra had apologized for her outburst, which everyone forgave her for, saying that she was right. She had then introduced herself to Abby, and given her the lay of the land, so to speak. She explained that the eastern shore was destroyed in a flash flood, and that the western shore's jungle was half burned to the ground. She also mentioned that the north shore was just as baron as the southern shore that they sat on. Abby knew that, with that information, she would never be able to stay at the camp while her friends went on a futile mission. But she knew that she had to do something to make up for all the trouble that she had caused. Because Sierra was right. All the arguing was over her and it never would have happened if she hadn't shown up. Sierra had, of course, apologized for blaming Abby and told her that she shouldn't blame herself, but Abby knew that she was to blame. So she had to apologize to them. Somehow.

* * *

Abby wandered over to where Lex was sitting. He had been silent since Sierra had yelled at them all, excluding when he ran up to her when she came back, gave her a hug, and told her that he was glad that she had come back.

"Everyone's got something to say about what happened. Except you." Abby mentioned. Lex looked up at her. "So much has happened since the crash." she continued. "We're all different people now."

"I think it's more like what you said." Lex began. "When people go through stuff, it brings them together. We're like a family now, and sometimes families argue. But we look out for each other, too. Like a family." Lex smiled at her. "If something bad happens, one of us is right there to help."

Abby crouched down so she was eye to eye with him. "You'd do anything for your family, wouldn't you?"

"We all would. That's how we made it so far."

Abby laughed. "You're kind of little to be so smart."

Lex grinned. "It's my job."

Abby looked around the campsite, an idea beginning to formulate in her head. "Would you help me do something?" Lex smiled in agreement.

* * *

The full moon was out that night. Sierra sat behind the plane, staring out at it over the ocean. Abby had enlisted her help with her project, and, in an attempt to make up for being so rude to her, Sierra had agreed. Now she was wearing a canary yellow dress that she had salvaged from her plane crash. She sighed. She had a feeling that Abby was going to leave camp soon, and that it would cause another rift between the survivors. It had been a long day, and it was only going to get longer. Sierra heard Lex turn on the music, signalling that Abby's surprise would soon be underway, but Sierra didn't move. Though they had only known each other for a while and she knew they could never be together on the island, she found herself falling for Jackson, and all she wanted to do was stare at the moon and the millions of stars, like in a corny chick flick. Soon enough she heard voices.

* * *

Melissa and Daley climbed out of their tent.

"What is that?" Daley asked, hearing the sweet strains of music that had all but been forgotten during their stay on the island. Taylor emerged behind them, and the three girls trekked towards the plane as Jackson, Eric, and Nathan exited their tent.

"I was dreaming about music." Eric mentioned, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"Yeah? Well then you and I are having the same dream." Nathan replied, rubbing his curly afro. Nathan reached out and shoved Eric in the same direction that the girls had been going. In turn, Jackson reached out and pushed Nathan playfully after Eric, a smirk on his face as he did it.

With Jackson in the lead, the victims of crash Flight 29 DWN walked along a path of sand that was outlined with some of Melissa's candles. They reached the plane and were shocked. The music was coming from the loudspeaker that Lex had fixed earlier in the week, meaning that he had finally gotten the radio working. Abby and Sierra had strung the parachute from trees and the plane, making it like a canopy. Candles were spread around the campsite, adding to the romantic ambiance. Abby stood in the middle of the site, in Taylor's red dress with a white flower braided in her hair.

"Is that my dress?" Taylor began launching herself towards Abby, but Eric and Jackson held her back. Lex sat at the radio station and turned the music down a little bit.

"You guys have done so amazingly well since we crashed." Abby began. "I just wanted to say how sorry I am for anything I might have done that messed things up."

"You haven't messed things up, Abby." Daley said.

"Yeah, if anyone's to blame, it's us." Nathan agreed.

"It's true, we've all been immature." Melissa added.

"Yeah," Eric sighed, raising his hand. "Guilty."

"It's not your fault." Jackson said before raising his voice a little louder. "And it's not Sierra's fault either."

The aforementioned twin slowly rose from her spot behind the plane and walked steadily so she stood next to Abby. "How'd you know I was here?" she asked. In response, Jackson shrugged. About a minute of silence passed before everyone looked at Taylor, who remained suspiciously quiet during their apologies.

She stared back at them before sighing in defeat. "Fine! What's mine is yours, Abby. Really."

Abby smiled. "Thank you." She then looked at all of them. "I said before how bad experiences bring people close together. But I think good experiences do too. That's why I had Lex and Sierra help me set this up." Sierra nodded while Lex gave Abby a thumbs-up. "I want us to share some good times and make some happy memories." As Abby finished her speech, Lex put on his headphones and turned up the music. Sierra stepped off to the side as Nathan braved the dance floor first.

"Well, it's a dance." Nathan grabbed Abby's hand and twirled her into him. "Let's dance." They began swaying to the slow song that erupted from the speakers.

Jackson turned to Melissa, clapping his hands together in front of his face. "I'm not too good at this, but…" Melissa put her hand on his broad shoulder and took his other hand in hers.

"I'll teach you." Jackson nodded as they slowly started swaying on the dance floor. During their entire dance, Jackson couldn't get the thought of Sierra out of his mind, and he wished he was dancing with her. He loved Melissa like a little sister, but the only reason he kind of asked her to dance was because he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Sierra.

Meanwhile, Eric nodded cockily, examining Taylor and Daley. "Well, well, well. Who's the lucky winner?" He bent his fingers, as if to pull the two girls forward.

Taylor and Daley looked at each other and laughed. "Umm," Daley looked sceptically at him. "I think we're going to have to get back to you on that." Daley touched Taylor's shoulder and the two began jokingly dancing with each other.

"Ouch, don't leave me hanging!" Eric mumbled, his arms still outstretched.

Sierra weaseled her way into Eric's arms, putting his arms around his neck and pulling him out into the now crowded dance floor. "Come on, baby brother. Come dance with me."

Even as he placed his hands on his sister's waist, he exclaimed, "You are never going to let those two minutes slide, are you?" She laughed as they danced together.

Closer to the wing of the plane, Abby gave Nathan a hug and extracted herself from his grip. She walked over to Lex and put her hand out for him to take.

Lex looked at her as if she was crazy. "I don't dance."

"Well you do now." Lex removed his headphones and took Abby's hand, as she moved them out to where she and Nathan had just been dancing.

Jackson and Melissa's dancing lesson was going well until he stepped on her foot. "Ow!" Melissa exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry!" Jackson whispered in her ear, suddenly very happy that he wasn't dancing with Sierra and stepping on her feet.

Suddenly serious, Melissa looked up into his eyes. "Me too." In those two words, she apologized for everything she had put him through that day.

Nathan, made partner-less by a 12 year old, walked slowly towards where Taylor and Daley were swinging their arms crazily and laughing. "May I?" he asked, holding his hand out to Daley.

"You may!" Taylor said flirtatiously, turning towards her ex-boyfriend. Nathan, instead, took Daley's hand and pulled her into him, leaving Taylor without a partner, but with a slightly crestfallen expression.

Sierra looked over at her. "Go dance with Taylor," she whispered to Eric, gently letting him go.

He slowly walked up behind her. She heard his footsteps and turned around. Suddenly nervous, he hesitantly spread his arms. She smiled, a real genuine smile, and pulled him to her, throwing her arm around his shoulders.

After a few more minutes of dancing, Abby released Lex and he went back to the radio. She looked around at her friends, no, her family, and smiled. She weaved her way through the dancers, and headed towards the candle lit path, not realizing that Sierra was following her.

As soon as they were far enough away that the others wouldn't hear them, Sierra spoke. "You know, you can't just leave them like this."

"Like what?" Abby asked without turning back. "Happy?"

"Without a trace." Sierra replied, not commenting on the snippy comeback. "They'll worry about you."

Abby stopped just a few feet away from the tents. "I have to go after Ian and Jory and Captain Russell. They need me. These guys don't need me; they have you."

"I get that you want to go after your friends. I understand how worried you are about them. But that's the same way Jackson, Daley, Nathan, and the rest will feel when you just disappear."

"I know. But what else can I do."

"At least leave them a note."

"But if I tell them where I'm going, they'll try to follow me."

"I'll keep them from following you. I'll even put you on the quickest path to the north shore. If you're quick enough, and depending on where they are, you should be able to catch your team in time."

"Okay, as long as you promise that nobody will come after me."

Sierra sighed. "I promise." She quickly showed Abby the quickest path to the north shore, and took Abby's journal, where she had written her letter. On a whim, Abby turned and hugged Sierra.

"Keep them safe for me."

"I will if you keep yourself safe."

"I'll try."

As Abby disappeared into the dense jungle, Sierra whispered, "God speed Abby."

* * *

The next morning, everyone emerged from their tents later in the day than usual. They had made sure to dance with everyone at least once, but only Jackson, Lex, and Eric noticed that Sierra had disappeared. Everyone else noticed that Abby had left, so Eric predicted that the two girls had turned in early, under the evidence that Sierra was never a 'party' type of person.

Nathan rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and noticed Abby's journal sitting open on a log outside the girls' tent. At closer examination, the page had writing on it, and her lapis lazuli necklace weighed down the page so it wouldn't flap in the breeze. "Hey, everybody! Wake up now!" he yelled.

Everyone emerged from their tents, and Eric made a comment about how it couldn't be breakfast time yet. Sierra walked down the path from the plane where she slept in her hammock. Taylor exited her tent and made the same comment that Eric did.

"Where's Abby?" Nathan asked urgently.

"She's sleeping." Daley replied, pointing back to their tent.

"No, she's not there." Melissa corrected. Taylor looked back into the tent, and there was, in fact, no Abby.

Nathan began reading Abby's letter out loud, which explained all of her reasons for leaving. He reached a certain part when Taylor re-emerged from the tent.

"Hey, my backpack is gone."

"She must her geared up." Daley guessed.

"When did she do that?" Eric asked, glancing over at his sister, having a sneaky feeling that Sierra knew what had happened.

"When you guys were dancing last night." Sierra replied. "She said she didn't feel right about being here while her team was lost out in the jungle."

Nathan resumed reading the letter. When he finished, he said, "We have to go after her."

Sierra shook her head at the same time Jackson did. "No, we don't." Jackson replied, looking into Sierra's eyes. He knew that she knew that Abby had entrusted her with the duty of keeping the others protected. He was the leader, and it was his job too.

"What if she gets lost again?" Nathan asked.

"Then what are we going to do? Bring her back? She's just going to go off again." Jackson argued.

"She didn't want anyone getting hurt because of her." Sierra explained. "I put her on the right path, she can't get lost. Most of the paths lead out to the shoreline anyway. She'll be fine as long as there's no storm."

"Well, maybe we could help her find the others." Melissa tried, upset that Abby had left before she had gotten a chance to apologize.

"Yeah, and maybe get lost ourselves. The only one that could possibly find them is Sierra, and she won't do it because it's against Abby's wishes." Eric said.

"So, what should we do?" Taylor asked.

"I think we should let Abby take care of her family." Lex said wisely. "She knows the island now. She'll come back."

"Hopefully they all come back." Daley added.

Jackson nodded and looked out to the path that Sierra had pointed out as the quickest way to the north shore. "Good luck Abby."

* * *

**A/N:** As promised, another chapter. I shouldn't even post this, considering the lack of reviews, but I will for Indescribable Music, because of said author's compliments.


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:** So, this is like a record for me. 3 updates in less then a week. This is only happening because of Indescribable Music, my most loyal reviewer. I can see that other people are reading this story, so why don't you guys review? Flame the crap out of the story, just review. I want to know that someone other than Indescribably Music thinks I'm doing something right. Do I have to threaten? Alright, fine. I won't update again until I have at least, let's say, 3 reviews. Are we all copacetic? Maybe if I get some reviews, I'll send my reviewers a sneak peak of the next chapter if it's going to take me a while to get it out there. Remember, I'm going back to school on Thursday, so no more daily updates. Then again, we are getting 30 centimeters of snow today, so there could possibly be a snow day (with possible updating opportunities) coming my way. But still, I won't update again until I have at least 3 reviews. The only reason I'm updating today is because I just got two reviews for the last chapter, and I passed my math class with a 51%. So I'm happy.

Chapter 5

_**Morning, Day 10**_

The day after Abby left, the entire system that held the castaways together began to collapse. Jackson and Sierra were down at the beach, watching as a pod of playful tortoises jumped and flipped near the horizon. The rest of the team were off doing their own thing, and this provided the two island inhabitants with the worst backgrounds to spend a little quality time together. However, as had become her habit, Melissa interrupted them.

"Have either of you seen my tape?" The young Asian girl asked, clearly in a bit of a panic.

"What tape?" Sierra asked, giggling slightly as two of the aquatic mammals that she and Jackson were watching seemed to get into a one-upmanship contest.

"Each of us has a video diary where we blow off steam when the pressure gets too much." Jackson explained smiling as the ocean breeze gently ruffled his hair. It reminded him of what his mother used to do when he was a little boy, before the alcohol and drugs took over her life. He shook his head quickly. Those could be dangerous thoughts. Instead of dwelling on the past, he quickly asked Melissa, "You're missing your tape again?"

"I don't know what happened to it!" Melissa exclaimed desperately. "I put it in my backpack, in one of the smaller compartments, and now it's gone!"

"Okay, well, when did you see it last?" Sierra asked.

"Yesterday, I went and filmed a diary. I came back and put it in my pack. Now it's just gone!"

"Well, did Taylor take it again?" Jackson asked, completely unconcerned that Melissa was having a major meltdown. From his point of view, everyone had already heard the big secret on her tape, and on an island with only 12 people on it, the tape couldn't have gotten far.

"Why would she?"

"For kicks. To see how you'd react. Why would anyone else take your tape? Taylor already did it once; she might have done it again." Sierra mentioned.

"Okay, I'll go ask her." Melissa walked up the beach to where Taylor was sunbathing.

"Give it back!"

Taylor started and looked up. "Give what back?" she asked, propping herself up on her elbows.

"My video! I know you took it."

"Why would I want to watch your stupid video? I would rather watch my toenails grow!"

"Don't act all innocent! You've already watched my video, and played it for everybody, remember?"

"Well, see? That's your proof; I don't do encores. Now, go bother somebody else." Taylor laid her head back down and the towel and tilted her face towards the sun. Melissa screamed in frustration, and ran towards camp.

* * *

Back at camp, Daley emerged from the girls' tent after ransacking it. "Lex! My video's gone." Her little step-brother was re-packing the first aid kit when he looked up.

"Mine's gone too! So is Jackson's."

"Lex, this is bad." Daley responded, always jumping to conclusions. "Our private thoughts are on those videos, and if they get passed around…" She trailed off, not wanting to think about the consequences.

"Yeah, I know. It'll be war." Lex said, his eyes downcast.

* * *

The inhabitants of the south shore of the island huddled into a tight circle, everyone tense and frustrated.

"The videos are gone." Daley stated. "That means that somebody is a thief."

"They're private. It's just wrong to watch them, or show them to anybody else." Lex reminded them.

"Well, I understand if somebody wants to, like, watch me." Taylor said. "But when you're done, give it back! I need that video!"

"Taylor thinks her video is going to make her a TV star." Nathan mentioned to the group.

"I do not! It's gonna make me a movie star." Taylor grinned as she imagined the lifestyle of the rich and fabulous.

"Right now, it's no harm, no foul." Daley said, trying to steer the meeting back onto the right track. "And we all agree that it was wrong to take them, so-"

"Well, not all of us agree, obviously. Somebody took them." Taylor made a fair point.

"However took them, you know how serious we're taking this, alright? So let's just say, if they're returned by this afternoon, we'll forget it ever happened. Okay?" Nathan looked around the circle as everyone slowly dispersed.

* * *

"So, you're really not worried about someone watching your tape?" Sierra asked Jackson as they walked the path to the grove of banana trees.

"Not really. I figure that, if someone finds out about me, I'll just take off. Go try to find the others." he replied. He spotted a tree that was ripe with the yellow fruit that was a staple part of their diet. He pointed it out to her.

"I'll go." She quickly took off her shoes and began swiftly climbing the tree. "So you would just leave, without saying goodbye?" Sierra called down to him, pulling a bushel of bananas off the tree, and tossing it down to Jackson.

"Why should I say goodbye to them? They'll all treat me like some disease." he yelled back, catching the bushel and laying it on the ground beside him.

"I'm telling you, Eric would understand. I mean, he didn't tell anybody about coming from Chino because he didn't want to be treated differently. You did the same thing."

"You keep saying that, but I'm not buying it. Your brother has changed since you last saw him. He's gotten used to going to the rich school. And it's not the same circumstances. At least he can see your mom if he wants to. And he still lives with your dad. When he gets back to California, he'll be treated like some sort of king. I'll be lucky if the people from my old neighbourhood don't kill me. Hell, I'll be lucky not to get thrown back in juvie." Sierra slid down the tree and Jackson caught her around the waist before she could hit the ground. "Someone got stabbed because of me. I wasn't where I was supposed to be and somebody got hurt. I can't go back to juvie hall again. It was a nightmare, even more so since I was in for a crime that I didn't commit. Chris couldn't afford another mark on his record, so I covered for him."

"Well, there's always me."

"What?"

"They don't treat me any differently, and I'm supposed to be at military school for stealing a car."

"Well…"

"Sometimes people will surprise you."

* * *

The two came back and deposited their findings beside the air tight containers piled next to the plane. Daley had said she would make room for them when she finished purifying water. Daley adjusted a few things in one of the containers, and pulled out the camera. _"That's strange,"_ she thought. _"You'd think that someone would want to take the camera as well as the tapes."_ Deciding to deal with it later, she placed the camera and the bananas into the case, and traipsed back to camp, where she found Nathan, deep in thought. "Trying to make sure the tents don't get stolen next?" she teased.

He smiled and chuckled. "I'm trying to figure out who took the tapes." Nathan admitted.

Daley looked surprised. "By staring at the tents?" Nathan laughed. "What, are you psychic or something?"

"No, it's a little more scientific. You see, the tapes were in our packs in the tents. So I'm trying to think back to when somebody was here alone and had the chance to grab them."

"Cool. Can I play?" She set the container she was carrying down next to him.

"Sure," he replied, happy to have her with him. He had recently admitted to Melissa that he might have a 'thing' for Daley, even though they argue all the time, which was one reason he didn't want his tape watched.

"Wait," Nathan looked up at Daley. "First tell me: Did you take them?"

"No!" Nathan argued. Then a thought came to him. "Why? Did you?"

"Do you seriously think so?" she asked him.

"No."

"Okay good. Then we're both innocent." Nathan nodded. "Unless proven guilty."

* * *

Eric snuck around the side of the plane, looking around for any of his friends. Seeing none, he crept up to the container holding the bananas. He quietly opened the case and pulled out one of the yellow pieces of fruit. He grinned in triumph, happy that his skills as one of the best thieves in Chino weren't completely gone. Suddenly, he slipped as the tarp underneath his feet was pulled out from under him. He fell into the container and rolled onto his back.

"You're a thief!" Jackson accused, walking up to him.

"What? It's a banana, give me a break!"

"The tapes; where are they?"

"What, you think I took them?"

"Where are they?" Jackson continued advancing on Eric, who kept backing up.

"What's the matter, Chief? Worried about something on that tape of yours getting out?" Eric laughed.

His laugh was cut short as a very angry Jackson lowered himself to his level. "Bring them back. Now."

"Whoa." Eric said slowly, trying to deny his fear of the leader of the group. "Whatever it is, it must be really bad to get you all bent like this." Jackson grabbed his banana and launched himself away from Eric. He threw the banana towards the plane and walked away.

Okay, so he had lied to Sierra. He really didn't want anyone to know about his secret. He would prefer to keep it between the two of them. But now it seemed that Eric might know something. Maybe he put together the connection between his brother, Derek, and his brother's best friend, Chris, who also was Jackson's brother. He had told the truth though; he would leave if his secret got out. But he didn't want to have to leave. He wanted to stay and protect them, to get to know them. It just didn't look like he would get that chance.

* * *

"Alright, so you and I both have alibis because we were always with someone during the crucial period." Nathan started the investigation. They figured the tapes were taken between 8 and 10 that morning, times when both of them had been busy doing things away from camp.

"Right, so who wasn't?"

"That's the question." Nathan replied. "I mean, if they weren't someplace else, they could've been here." Nathan and Daley nodded to each other, and then began. "I came back to drop off my tape at around 8. You and Taylor were here, she was looking for nail polish or something. Then we all went to the beach."

"And we met Jackson and Sierra; they went to go get some more bananas." Daley added. "So where were Eric, Lex, and Melissa?"

"Well, I saw Lex at the plane." Nathan corrected. "Oh, but then he went off with Taylor."

"Okay, so I came back to camp around 9 to drop off some coconuts, and Eric, Lex, Taylor, and Melissa were all there. And then Eric went of with Lex to the well."

"Yeah, I passed Eric and Lex on their way out while Jackson, Sierra, and I were coming in."

"Right, you and Jackson were looking for your sunscreen and Sierra never leaves Jackson's side. And Lex had mine in your tent."

"So you went off to catch him." Nathan smiled at the memory of the smart, yet forgetful, little boy.

"I did."

"Sierra pulled out her sunscreen and was having an awkward time putting some on her back, so Jackson offered to rub it in for her. That caused Melissa to leave in a huff and go after you."

"We caught up to Lex and sent him back to camp to give you your sunscreen."

"Mhmm. Oh, then I asked everybody if they wanted to play Coconut Catch." They both laughed at the silly game they had invented to pass time. "Lex was psyched, so he went off to find other players." In his minds eye, Nathan could see Lex running off with a huge grin on his face. "Oh, no, wait. He came right back in because Eric came back into camp. Taylor didn't want to play, bi surprise, and she was upset about something, another big surprise, so she went off to find you."

"Oh yeah," Daley laughed. "She wanted me to sew a button on her shirt."

"Wait," he looked at Daley. "So Taylor came to you." Daley agreed. "Was anybody else there?"

"Just Melissa."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Lex didn't come ask you to play?"

"No…what are you thinking?"

"Well, Jackson, Eric, Sierra, and I were on the beach. And Lex said that he was going to go find you."

"He didn't." Shocked, they realized that they had just ruled out every castaway but one.

"That's impossible."

"That's totally impossible." Daley agreed as she and Nathan ran off to find the one person without an alibi. Lex.

* * *

Lex was still trying to fix the radio. He thought he was making progress: the silence he continuously received was no static. He flipped a few switches and still only heard static. He looked up and saw Nathan and Daley walking towards him. "Still nothing but static," he told them.

Nathan and Daley looked at each other, and she sighed, "Lex. You know I trust you more than anyone. And I'm sure there's always a good reason for whatever you do."

"What's the matter, Dae?" he asked.

She looked pleadingly at Nathan. "Alright, listen Lex. We figure that the videotapes were stolen between 8 and 10 this morning. And you were the only person at the campsite, alone then, so-"

"Wait." Lex cut him off. "You think I took them? Why would I do that?"

Lex didn't realize that Eric was on the other side of the plane. He climbed over on top of it, and said, "Very, very good question!" Eric continued to approach them. "I always thought it was him."

"But he didn't!" Daley was quick to defend her little brother. "Right Lex?" He looked at the sand beneath his feet.

Eric laughed. "Come on, Junior. 'Fess up!"

Lex looked around, disgusted at all three of them. "I don't believe this!" He quickly stormed away from them.

"Lex!" Daley went to follow him but was pulled back by Eric's comment.

"You can run but you can't hide!" He laughed as Nathan and Daley turned to him. "I always wanted to say that."

"Don't you dare say a word about this to anyone. Not until we figure out what happened." Daley ordered.

Eric nodded. "Yeah, sure. My lips are sealed." He turned and walked away.

"His lips are so not sealed." Daley commented, and Nathan agreed with her.

* * *

Lex walked into camp after taking a long walk on the beach with Sierra. He knew that she didn't care who stole the tapes, considering how she didn't have one. She told him just to tough it out and wait for the real culprit. He kicked his feet as he thought about what she said.

"Hey!" Taylor's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "He's here, I got him!" He turned to run as everyone bombarded him.

"Lex! What were you thinking? Why did you take them?" Melissa asked.

He quickly turned the other way when Eric caught him. "You can run but you can't hide!" he exclaimed, a cheesy grin on his face.

Everyone immediately started asking for their tapes back. Jackson walked up and Lex automatically thought that he was saved, but Jackson just asked for his tape back as well.

Luckily Sierra was just a few feet behind Jackson, and quickly pulled him out of the fray. "Eric, just back off! You guys are like vultures! Just give the kid a break!"

Daley and Nathan heard the commotion and quickly came to her and Lex's aid. "Stop! Sierra's right, you guys are too much! First the fire, and now this! We can't be at each others' throats all the time!"

"We're too much? He's the one who took the tapes, you little creep!" Taylor quickly defended hers, and the others, actions.

"Hey!" Daley warned.

"Way to keep it quiet, Eric!" Nathan accused.

"Hey, I'm just being a good citizen."

"Hand 'em over, Pee-wee." Taylor demanded.

"We don't know that he took them." Daley reminded her.

"Maybe we should just ask him." Melissa suggested.

Daley looked down at her step-brother. "Lex, you know whatever you say, I'll believe you."

"Pssh, speak for yourself." Taylor muttered.

"I just did!" She gave Taylor a warning glance. "Now let him talk."

Lex looked around nervously. "I-I don't know what to say! I can't prove I didn't take them."

"See!" Taylor got excited. "Wait, was that a confession?"

"Is that all you have to say?" Nathan asked gently. Lex nodded his head.

"Obviously he's not going to 'fess up." Eric announced. "So I say we have a trial."

"You can't be serious." Daley objected.

"Why not? We're all civilized, right? And as long as we're here, we'll have to deal with things like this." Eric argued.

"This is totally ridiculous." Daley said, Nathan nodding beside her.

"No, it's not." Jackson replied. "I mean, we're all alone here. And we need to figure out a fair way to handle problems like this. A trial's a good idea." He looked like he was forced to swallow a frog, admitting that Eric's idea was a good one.

"It is?" Eric looked just as shocked as everyone else, save Sierra. She knew that Jackson desperately wanted his tape back; no matter how much he denied it. Jackson shrugged. "I mean," Eric took on a more confident tone. "It is." He looked down and glared at Lex.

* * *

The islanders quickly set up a small court. Jackson sat underneath a canopy in a plane seat, using one of their coolers as a desk. Taylor, Nathan, and Melissa were in plane chairs, acting as the jury. Daley sat by Lex. Eric sat on his own. Sierra sat underneath one of the palm trees, there but not really part of the action. She argued about being there at all, but Jackson told her that she needed to be there to keep Eric in check.

"Alright, let's do this." Jackson started, banging a branch against the cooler. He was their leader, and thereby, their judge. "Eric?"

Eric took a sip of water out of a coconut shell. "Ahh," he sighed, as he stood up from his seat on a cooler. "Thank you, Your Honour. Ladies and Gentlemen, what we're here looking for is the truth. Nothing more, nothing less."

"But I thought we were looking for the tapes." Taylor whined.

He then launched into a lengthy spiel about loyalty and privacy and trust. "Eric!" Jackson interrupted. He turned around. "Get over yourself!"

"Fine! Lex took the tapes, and I'm here to prove it." He retook his seat and looked cockily over at Daley. "Councillor?"

"Go ahead Daley." Jackson gestured.

She nodded and looked over at Lex. "Anything you want to say?"

"I'm innocent until proven guilty."

She sighed and rose from her chair. "I'm here to defend my brother and find the truth." She sat back down.

Eric chuckled. "Not exactly stirring." Sierra threw a rock at him from her spot beneath the tree. "Ow! What was that for?" She didn't respond but gestured for him to listen.

"Eric, what's your proof?" Judge Jackson asked.

"Your Honor, I call to the witness stand Nathan McHue." Nathan looked shocked.

Jackson laughed. "First, there is no stand. Second, he can't. He's on the jury."

"Well, it's not like I have a lot of choices here, so…"

"Fine, whatever. Nathan…" He gestured for him to stand up.

"Can't I stay here?"

"No!" Eric objected. "When you're there, you're on the jury. When you're here, you're a witness."

Nathan rolled his eyes but went over to stand next to Jackson. "Where do I go?"

"Just sit." Jackson said, tired of Eric's game already.

"Wait, wait, wait. He's got to be sworn in." Eric really was taking this trial thing too seriously.

Sierra rolled her eyes. "You'll have to ignore him, Jackson. He watched way too many crime shows for his own good. Plus I think our mother dropped him on his head when he was born."

Jackson smiled and laughed a little under his breath, but nevertheless swore Nathan in. "Do you swear to tell the truth?"

"Yeah."

"Great, sit down." Nathan took a seat on the cooler.

"Mr. McHue, would you please tell the court why you think Lex took the tapes, in your own words?"

"What other words would I use?" Nathan questioned. "And I don't know if Lex took the tapes."

"What? But I thought…" Eric stumbled over Nathan's words. "Let me rephrase. Why do you think he may have taken the tapes?"

"Well, Daley and I tried to reconstruct what happened this morning, and we figured that Lex was the only one who was alone in the camp when the tapes were taken."

"Excuse me?" Eric acted surprised. "You determined this along with the defendant's sister? The one who has every reason to protect him, yet you came to this conclusion?"

"Eric, give me a break!" Daley said, exhausted by Eric's badgering.

"Oh, thank you. My prosecution rests." Eric finished, resuming his seat.

Taylor leaned over to Melissa. "He's very good."

Nathan turned around to look at Jackson, who asked, "That's it?"

"What more is there to say? Lex took them, end of story."

Jackson shook his head. "Daley?"

"Last chance," she told Lex, who shook his head. She sighed and stood. "I have no questions for Nathan." Nathan went back to his seat in the jury. "I'd like to bring Lex up." As he went to stand, she put her hand on his shoulder. "You can stay there."

"Well, swear him in." Eric demanded.

"Lex?" Jackson glanced around Daley. "Tell the truth?"

"Okay," he agreed.

"Good enough." With Eric's seal of approval, Daley's defense began.

"We have our differences. We've all said some stupid things and made some mistakes, but when things get serious, we know we can rely on each other. And that's why we've survived. Right Lex?" She had everyone's attention.

"Uh, yeah. Right." Lex looked at the ground.

"The videotapes were a good idea. Whenever the stress got to be too much for anybody, we had a place where we could let off all of our steam and know that whatever was said would be _private_. Like a diary, right Lex?"

"Yep."

"But the only way that could work is if we had an honours system: nobody could see anybody else's tape. And except for one," she shot a look at Taylor. "Unfortunate incident, we've all held to that system." Taylor looked away, acting innocent. "Right Lex?"

"That's right."

"but now we're worried that our honours system is falling apart and someone's watching our tapes and learning our innermost secrets." Daley looked around the 'court'. "But there's something I don't get." She bent down to retrieve the camera. "I found the camera, in its container, where it's always been. Nobody took it. So if somebody wanted to watch the tapes, why didn't they take the camera? You can't watch them without the camera!"

"Is that true?" Taylor asked Melissa, who rolled her eyes and gestured for her to be quiet.

"I have a theory." Daley continued. "I don't think the thief wanted to watch the tapes at all. Or else they would have taken the camera too."

"So why else would they take them?" Nathan asked.

"Objection!" Eric jumped up and pointed towards him. "You can't talk!"

"Sit down!" Jackson reprimanded while Sierra threw a rock at Eric.

"This isn't about you getting to play lawyer anymore Eric! So shut up and sit down!" she yelled.

Jackson looked back at Daley. "Keep going."

"I bet the thief wasn't looking for secrets at all. I bet they were trying to hide one. I think the thief took the tapes so there would be no chance that anyone would be able to see it. Whatever that secret is, it's gotta be so bad that somebody would be willing to become a thief and steal all the tapes to cover their tracks." Daley slowly walked over to stand beside Lex. "Question is who has something on their video that could be so bad that it would be a disaster if anybody found out?" Everyone was so immersed in Daley's speech that no one noticed Sierra and Jackson share a look. "At least one person knows; the thief. But I think I know who the thief is, and I can guarantee you that there's nothing on their video that could be that bad. That means, the thief took the tapes to cover for someone else," she sat down next to her step-brother. "Right Lex?" Daley asked gently.

Lex sighed. "Yeah, that's right." Nathan looked up, shocked, as the rest of camp erupted.

Eric jumped up. "I knew it, guilty as charged!" Sierra stood up and pushed him over the cooler.

"Sorry Jackson, I had to do it!" He nodded at her. Nobody noticed that, as she had pushed Eric over, she had grabbed his pack from where it was hidden, fully loaded, behind the cooler that Lex sat on.

"Yeah, I took them!" Lex jumped up angrily. "But it was to keep them from you, Eric!" Everyone turned to pounce on Eric.

"Easy! Easy!" Jackson yelled over the din, pounding his branch/gavel on the cooler.

"I'm so confused!" Taylor moaned.

"What's the story, Lex?" Jackson asked, already with an inkling of what was about to go down. Eric had been riding him about his feelings for Sierra for a couple of days, and seemed determined to hear the truth. The one place he could find the truth, about everything, was on Jackson's video diary. That's why he had packed, that's why he had had Sierra grab his pack while everyone was confused by the commotion.

"Come on Lex. It's over; you have to." Daley said firmly, yet gently.

Lex took a deep breath and began. "Late yesterday, I saw something I shouldn't have. I saw Eric watching somebody else's videotape."

"What? You were spying on me?" Eric accused.

"Eric?" Taylor exclaimed.

"I knew he had something to do with this!" Nathan proclaimed.

"I can't believe you would do something like that, Eric. How could you?" Sierra asked, her eyes hardening as she looked towards her twin brother.

"Why'd you take the videos?" Daley asked Lex.

"Because I watched some of the tape too." Lex admitted. "It was wrong, I know. I'm just as bad as Eric. And I saw something on that tape that wasn't supposed to be seen."

"A-hah! So you were watching too, and over my shoulder no less, you little sneak!" Eric remarked, jumping out of his seat once again.

"Eric!" Daley admonished. "Sit down!" She waited until he was seated again. "What'd you see, Lex?"

"It was private, and I was afraid that Eric would tell everybody about it." The twelve year old replied. "I figured if the tapes were gone then he would have no proof to back it up. So…I took them. I'm sorry."

A few moments of silence passed. "Alright." Eric said jovially. "Yes, yes. It's true! I watched a tape. I'm the bad guy. But you know what? I'm glad I did. I discovered a secret about someone. And truth is…it could put us all in danger." Everyone looked at each other, astonished. "Now do you want me to keep a secret like that, or do you all want to know?" In that moment, Lex, Jackson, and Sierra shared a look. They all knew that something bigger than the three of them was going down in a messy way.

Sierra knew that the only way to protect Jackson was to get to her brother first, but she knew that would just make everything more suspicious. "Still looking out for number one, huh, Little Brother?" Sierra commented, picking up a few palm fronds and beginning to braid them together.

"Pardon?"

"Oh, I just mean that this is what you always do. The second even an ounce of blame can fall on you, you try to turn the entire situation onto someone else. The second best defence other than running away. And, if I recall properly, you're pretty good at that too."

"So what? This secret scares me!"

"Oh sure it does, Eric! Cut the crap for one second, and talk to me straight. Does the secret scare you because it's dangerous, or because it threatens the bubble you've built around yourself, trying to keep the past out?"

"This isn't about me! The secret could be a danger to us all!"

"Oh yeah, just like I'm a danger to us all. Just like Abby was a danger to us all. Just like Lex stealing the tapes is a danger to us all! I say, if the secret hasn't harmed anyone yet, we should just let sleeping dogs lie, as they say."

Lex nodded. "Don't say anything, Eric. Just stop talking!"

"Well, maybe what I did was wrong. But what's more important? Secrecy or safety?"

"There's nothing dangerous at all about the secret!' Sierra exclaimed, trying not to make it suspicious that both she and Lex were trying to defend the secret-keeper. If someone put two and two together, they would have their mystery man.

"You don't know the whole story! You're making too big a thing out of this!" Lex added.

"Am I? When I saw that tape, I saw something on there that scared me, and I think it would scare everybody!"

"Sweet Jesus, help me!" Sierra looked up at the sky. "You've changed Eric. One little misstep in your perfect little world, and you would sell Grandma for a semblance of normality! You need to take a chill pill and remember where you come from."

"I'm putting it to the jury." Eric replied, trying to ignore all the digs Sierra was throwing at him. He turned to look at Melissa and Nathan and Taylor. "Do you want me to tell everyone, or keep a secret that could be harmful to us all?"

The jury began debating amongst each other until they heard a voice. "You know what? Just say it Eric." They turned to see Jackson at his Judge's stand. He was shaking his head in defeat.

"Alright." Eric turned to walk away. "The secret…" He suddenly turned and pointed. "Is about you, Jackson!" Everyone's heads whipped around to stare at their leader, who seemed the least bit phased at the proceedings. "I think it's about time you tell us the truth!"

Jackson shared an apologetic look with Lex and Sierra. They were the only two who would care what happened to him after this. All three of them, united by a common cause, lowered their heads in defeat.

* * *

**A/N:** Drama, drama, drama. Sorry about the length, it couldn't be helped. So, Eric's a little bit of an asshole isn't he? I'll admit, this chapter worries me. It's worried me from the very beginning. I thought to myself: If Eric comes from the same background as Jackson, why would he pull all this garbage about being scared. And then it hit me: Twin Sister to the Rescue! Why not let Sierra point out all the reasons that Eric is acting like a world-class putz! There will be more of an explanation in the next chapter. But remember what I said: 3 reviews equals one update. So, TTFN. Hope to see some reviews tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N:** I sure have some loyal reviewers! I love you guys so much (you know who you are). Thank you for all who reviewed. Think we can hit 5 reviews this time? I hope so. If not, I'll wait a couple of days after I get three reviews, then I'll post the next chapter. Deal?

Oh, one last thing! This chapter turned out a little more…how shall we say…racy? Is that a good word? Yeah, I figured that I would go The Hunger Games route. Cave, during a storm, perfect recipe for romance. Oops, have I said too much? ;)

* * *

_**Previously:**_ _The jury began debating amongst each other until they heard a voice. "You know what? Just say it Eric." They turned to see Jackson at his Judge's stand. He was shaking his head in defeat._

_"Alright." Eric turned to walk away. "The secret…" He suddenly turned and pointed. "Is about you, Jackson!" Everyone's heads whipped around to stare at their leader, who seemed the least bit phased at the proceedings. "I think it's about time you tell us the truth!"_

_Jackson shared an apologetic look with Lex and Sierra. They were the only two who would care what happened to him after this. All three of them, united by a common cause, lowered their heads in defeat._

Chapter 7

"What was it?" Taylor asked.

"Watch the tape." Eric replied.

"No!" Lex objected. "That's exactly why I took the tapes; so nobody could watch them."

"Nobody _should_ watch anybody's tape." Daley corrected. "They're private!"

"Hey, this is a trial, right?" Eric asked, looking around. He skipped over his twin sister, who looked like she was in a murderous rage. He didn't realize that she had spent days trying to convince Jackson that he was a different person; that he was loyal, trustworthy, and honest. She had put her reputation on the line for him, and here he was, wasting all her hard work. Everyone nodded in agreement to Eric's question. "We should leave it up to the jury." He gestured to Nathan, Melissa and Taylor, who were looking extremely uncomfortable at the turn of events.

There was a moment of silence. "Lex." The young boy looked up at his leader, his idol. "Listen, I appreciate what you've done but," Jackson sighed. "Get the tape."

"Jackson, no!" Lex vehemently protested.

"Yes, just go get it." Eric nodded, enjoying the fact that he was winning. A clap of rolling thunder sounded overhead.

Lex opened his mouth to object again, but was cut off by Sierra. "Are you sure, Jackson?"

"Yeah. Go get the tape."

Sierra nodded, not agreeing with what her friend was about to do, but realizing that she had no choice. "If this is going to happen, it should happen now. There's a monsoon coming in, and it's gonna get wet soon."

Jackson bowed his head as he stood from his seat. "Let's go." Lex ran up to him and grabbed his hand. Sierra followed and placed her hand on Jackson's shoulder. Like that, they walked to the place, with the others following them.

* * *

Jackson and Sierra leaned against the side of the plane, a little ways off from Lex and the others as Lex tried to hook the camera up to the loudspeaker.

"You going to run?" Sierra asked him.

"Yeah. I'll go find the others."

"You know, I wasn't lying about the monsoon. If you run, you could find yourself in serious trouble when the storm hits."

"I'll be fine." He was silent for a few seconds. "Thanks for grabbing my pack for me."

"No problem." She walked away a few steps, grabbed something and came back, her pack now over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

"Coming with you."

"No, I can't let you do that. You're safe for the first time in three years. Stay here."

"Not happening, Cody. You need me out there. Besides, I need some distance from dumb-ass over there." She pointed towards Eric. "I just don't understand how he can give up the old ways just like that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Remember what you said? 'You run away, I'm going to follow you'? That goes for you too, James Dean. Let's face it, we're stuck with each other."

He laughed quietly. "Yeah, I guess we are."

Another clap of thunder sounded.

"I hate thunder!" Taylor complained.

"It's lightening you've got to worry about." Nathan reminded, thinking of the trees going up in flames. They would be dead without the food from the jungle.

"I think we've got a whole lot to be worried about." Daley added, looking over at the silent pair on the wing of the plane.

"Can we please do this?" Eric asked as Lex connected the final wire to the camera.

"Just play the part that Eric's talking about and nothing else." Melissa requested, moving off to crouch down in the sand with her back towards her friends. Daley moved up to take the camera from Lex and press play.

A few seconds passed before Jackson's face appeared on the screen. Daley noted that the video was probably taken a couple of weeks previously, most likely a few days after they had crashed.

"_So I feel pretty much alone on this island. My head's just not in the same place as the others. I mean, truth is, I'm in no hurry to get rescued."_ Everyone gasped.

"What?" Nathan was shocked, not being able to believe that someone on the island didn't want to go home.

"Listen!" Eric commanded, gesturing back to the camera.

"_Of course I don't want to be eating coconuts for the rest of my life, but what do I have to go back to? They won't let me see my mom! The foster home they put me in is fine, but it's no home! The school that they've got me going to is full of…" Jackson turned this way and that to check for eavesdroppers. "Rich little spoiled kids! And after that guy got hurt the night before we left, I can guarantee that they're gonna throw me back in juvie hall."_

"Gosh," Taylor whispered.

As everyone was so entranced by the video, nobody noticed Sierra and Jackson slowly backing off the plane. When they reached the sand, they backed up silently for a few steps before turning and running into the jungle, their packs banging against their backs.

"Who got hurt?" Nathan asked.

"_And whatever it takes, I cannot go back there!" _

Melissa stormed over and grabbed the camera from Daley. "That's enough!"

"Sure is," Eric agreed. "Our Mr. Man is going to jail…for hurting somebody!"

"Can that be true?" Daley asked.

"Of course it is! He said it himself." Eric replied.

"Maybe we should just let him explain." Melissa objected. They turned back to where Jackson and Sierra had been standing, noting for the first time how silent they had both been, only to shocked to find their spots vacant. Eric laughed, before remembering that was what he used to do whenever trouble was afoot. He shook his head surreptitiously. Those were thoughts and memories that he didn't want to remember, especially after the last time he had returned to Chino. He rubbed his neck unconsciously, remembering the beating his so-called friends had laid upon him, saying it was his fault that his twin sister was lost. Her ex had broken his nose, and her best friend had dislocated his shoulder. The guilt had become unbearable so he had just blocked out the memories, preferring to pretend that they had never happened.

To pull himself out of his past, he turned to his real friends. "Face it boys and girls, we're living with a dangerous criminal who doesn't want to get rescued. We made him the boss!"

"He's a troubled guy!" Melissa argued.

"Troubled?" Eric turned to face her, his eyes flashing dangerously. "We're all 'troubled'! I come from the same type of place as he does, but I've never, _never,_ hurt someone except in self-defense. And no matter how bad things get, I've never doubted that I want to go home!"

"Well, what are we going to do?" Daley asked. "Lock him up? He hasn't done anything to us!"

"Yeah, yet!" Eric shook his head and walked away. He had seen guys like Jackson back home, in his real home, and they were dangerous. Now his sister and his friends were getting attached to him, and he knew he was the only person who could protect them.

* * *

Jackson and Sierra walked in silence, the only sound being the song of the birds and the crunch of earth under their feet.

"You don't have to do this, you know." Sierra told him, breaking the quiet that had been held since they had left camp. "Remember what you told me? You can't always run from your problems. Especially when a monsoon is incoming." She muttered the last part quietly, glancing at the rapidly darkening sky.

"I'm not running." Jackson objected, holding back the leaves of a fern for her to pass.

"Sure, uh-huh," she mumbled as she passed him, earning herself one dirty look. "So, what's the plan?"

"I'm gonna find the others."

"Oh, that's a very precise plan. What's next, we're gonna get off the island?"

"You know, your sarcasm is really not required."

She sighed. "Okay, you want to find the others. But you're definitely not going to find anybody in this storm. Actually, you're more likely to get your ass fried. Let's just bunker down for the night, and you can decide a plan of attack in the morning. Alright?"

"You sound like you want me to change my mind about leaving."

"I can't deny that just going back would save me a heck of a lot of time trying to convince you that looking for the others is futile. But I know that I can't convince you, so I'm going with you. Someone's gotta have your back. So that's what I'm doing. Now, we're gonna head to the waterfall, hang out there for the night, and then you can decide: we can go back, or we can keep going. The choice is yours."

"Fine," he sighed. "Let's go take cover."

* * *

Both of them nearly broke their necks climbing up the slick wall with the water cascading over the cliff multiplied by the rain that was now falling from the angry gray clouds.

Jackson dropped his pack on the ground. "Okay, what exactly did you pack in here?"

Sierra laughed, dropping her bag with a _thunk_. "My bag has the food. Not enough for the others to be starving, but enough to keep us going for the night, plus a change of clothes for both of us. Your pack has our sleeping bags and my hammock, plus a water bottle."

"Then why is it so heavy?" Jackson questioned, rubbing his back.

"Because you're weak." Sierra replied, smirking at him.

"Oh, hilarious."

"I thought so," she said sarcastically, pulling her brown T-shirt over her head to reveal her purple bra.

"Wha-" Jackson cleared his suddenly dry throat. "What are you doing?"

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm wet and I don't feel like getting sick while you're on this harebrained adventure. So I'm changing clothes." Jackson watched as she pulled her cut-off jean shorts down her long, toned legs and pulled-this caused him to gulp again-his shirt over her head. Sierra noticed him staring. "Sorry," she said, glancing down at his shirt that fell to her mid-thigh. "I didn't want to steal any of Taylor's pajamas, so I hope you don't mind if I borrow this for the night. When my clothes dry, I'll wear them to bed, but there's nothing worse than wearing wet denim." She looked at him expectantly.

"No," he cleared his throat again. "It's fine. Go ahead." He sat there staring at her for a moment before clearing his head. "So, um, what do you want me to do?"

She chuckled at his sudden awkwardness. "Do you want to make a fire?" At his questioning glance, she continued. "I always keep this place pretty well stocked. There should be matches and some firewood in the corner, back there." She pointed to the dank, dark back corner of the cave.

"Matches?"

She giggled. "I got lucky when salvaging them. They were wrapped in a wad of socks; I think one of the girls on my flight was a smoker, and she wasn't supposed to bring anything like that with her to the military school. Unfortunately, the lighter was completely ruined but the matches are in pretty good shape."

He walked over to the small pile of wood with a box of matched balanced carefully on the top log. He carefully set some of the wood up and used an empty journal that she threw at him as kindling. He struck a match and lit the paper. A small fire was soon illuminating their cozy sanctuary. The wind blew along the entrance of the cave, pulling all the smoke out of the rock opening. Meanwhile, Sierra opened both of their sleeping bags lengthwise and zipped them together to make what she called 'a sleeping bad built for two'.

"I know that this could get uncomfortable, but it's gonna get really cold soon, so we're gonna need the body heat to keep warm," she said in explanation. Jackson nodded in agreement, laying out her soaked shirt and shorts by the fire, crouching so that he could warm his shivering body. "Are you gonna stay in those clothes, Jackson?" At his nod, she continued, "You're gonna freeze, or get sick. Or both." He shrugged. "Well, if you get sick , then we're definitely going back to camp." He sent her a glare as he ripped his T-shirt over his head and tossed it beside the fire. Sierra threw him his grey zip-up hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. "I'll turn around to protect your honour, if you want," she said, giggling and she turned her back to him, unable to get the image of his muscled chest and abdomen out of her mind. Likewise, he was having a heck of a time trying to get the image of her topless out of his head. Considering she only had clothing from when she was 13 years old, none of the clothes fit her properly, and she was now more developed. Her undergarments barely covered anything anymore.

Jackson quickly pulled on the pair of jeans that she had thrown to him and went to sit by the fire. He silently stared at her as she came and sat beside him.

She sighed. "Just say it."

"What?' he questioned.

"'I told you so'? I know; you were right. Eric is completely changed."

"Yeah, I tried to tell you. But it's not your fault, he was probably always like this, but you've been away from him for so long that you're just noticing it."

"But that's the thing, Jackson. He wasn't always like this. He used to be really nice. See, we used to get kicked out of our house a lot, because our mom didn't give a damn about us. One of my brother's friends, Frankie, used to own a pool hall, and he would let us hang out there as much as we wanted. He was pretty good friends with the plainclothes cops that walked that beat, so he never got in trouble for letting a bunch of minors in. Frankie used the revenue from the hall to pay for this motel a few streets away from the pool hall, and he would always let us stay there when we needed a place to crash. Now, Frankie only really offered Eric, Derek and I a place to stay, but Eric never really thought it was fair. He would always tell other street kids to go to Frankie's motel if they needed a layover. Frankie never complained, said it was better than having us out in the streets, getting into trouble." Sierra took a deep breath. "One day, a really troubled kid came into the hall. He made some disparaging comments about me and a couple of my friends. Eric stood up for us. The kid got really pissed and pulled a knife on Eric. Frankie intervened, tried to talk to the kid. The kid pulled a gun and shot Frankie six times. Frankie died trying to save Eric from getting hurt. Eric always said that he would try to fill Frankie's shoes, you know. Make things better for kids on the street. Eric couldn't do much after the motel was burned down, but he always tried to make a difference."

"I don't know, Sierra. Maybe losing you changed him. I mean, you are twins."

"Maybe." They sat watching the crackling flames. "Do you want to tell me the full story?" she asked her companion softly.

"Not really…" he replied. "But I will." He took a deep breath before he began. "My dad left when I was 7 and Chris was 10. That's when Chris started to mess around with his life; he really looked up to my dad. Things were alright for a while, until Chris got put in juvie when he was 13 years old. It put my mom over the edge. Drinking and doing drugs, I was the one left to clean up the messes she left behind. She never took anything out on me though. But her boyfriends did. They would yell and scream at me, telling me I was just making things worse for my mom. That's why I took Chris' place in juvie after we got busted breaking into some school. I told them it was me after telling Chris to hightail it out of there. I was 11. When I got out a year later, I guess I thought things would be better. But they were worse; the guys my mom went out with would beat her, and when I came home they started beating me too. Chris was long gone; I heard he was trying to clean up his act. I guess he did, because he's the one who called Child Services when I was 13. After that I got bounced around from foster home to foster home, but who in their right mind wants to adopt a 13 year old juvenile delinquent?"

"And then you got taken to the foster parents that put you in Eric's school." Sierra pushed gently, after he had been silent for a few minutes.

"Yeah, apparently this rich couple couldn't have kids, so they wanted to adopt an older kid, so they didn't have to do any of the hard work of raising a baby. I was 14 when I first went to them, but I turned 15 a few months later. I floated around school for a couple of months. I saw your brother and Daley and Nathan, and all of them from a distance. Melissa was the first one to talk to me. Around March Break, I found out that I would get to come on this awesome trip to the South Pacific. My foster parents would have paid for me to go on the trip if I'd asked them, but I didn't want to put them out, so the trip came from out of the blue. The night before we were supposed to leave, I asked my foster parents if I could go visit my brother. He had called me to say that he was going back to school, and was turning his life around. I wanted to tell him that I was doing the same thing but he didn't leave a phone number. So I asked if I could go visit him, and my foster parents agreed. On my way, I found a few of my old friends and I couldn't help but tell them how I was turning my life around, you know?"

"I get that. You were proud and wanted to share that with your friends, hoping they'd be proud of you too." Sierra glanced admiringly at him. It takes a lot of guts to do what he had done; turning his life around when it seemed like he had hit a dead end.

"Yeah. But instead of being proud, they said that I had changed and that I thought I was better than them. One kid, Tommy, stood up for me. This really big kid, Felix, accused him of thinking he was better than them as well and shoved him. They got into a fight. I tried to break it up, but Felix's friends got in my way. Felix pulled a knife and Tommy got hurt. Nothing serious, just a couple of cuts that weren't too deep. They would've come after me but Chris showed up at the last second. Said he had heard the commotion and came to check it out. He told me to take off before the cops showed up."

"Wow…I'm really sorry Jackson."

"Thanks, I guess. Just, now I don't know where to go. If I go home, the cops will show up and take me back to juvie. But it's not like I have anywhere else to go!"

On a whim, Sierra leaned over and hugged him, putting her head on his chest. "We'll figure it out together. We're stuck together, remember?"

He laughed and rested his head on top of hers. "Yeah," he sighed in contentment. "I guess we are."

* * *

He was lost. There was no way around admitting it. He had put up a fight to come look for Jackson and Sierra, but Nathan had pulled out the argument that 'his sister was out there too'. But looking for the two of them on this island was like looking for a needle in a haystack, especially since Sierra knew the island like she knew the back of her hand. In all honesty, Eric would have preferred to stay with the whiny, injured Taylor than go trekking all over God's green island to find two juvenile delinquents that had taken off from camp right before the floodgates of Heaven had opened to release the biggest downpour that Eric had ever witnessed.

Melissa, Daley and Nathan had been obsessed with this rescue mission since they had found out that Jackson and Sierra had fled camp. Taylor had stepped on some sort of stinger right before the three searchers had left camp. He had offered to stay back with her, but, oh no, Nathan had to play Captain Justice and demand that he, Eric, was one of the searchers, since it was apparently his fault that the two had disappeared. When it had begun raining, Eric had opted to turn back. He received no flak for leaving the search party because Melissa thought that they would cover more ground without him.

That had been over an hour ago. Eric had never been so far from camp, and now found himself inexplicably lost. Determined, Eric pulled up the hood of his rain jacket, and pushed on.

* * *

_**(Warning: This is the slightly intimate area that I push the T rating a tad, if you're not comfortable, please skip this small section. That is all.)**_

Sierra pulled her head off of Jackson's chest and found herself less than an inch away from him, staring into his cobalt blue eyes. "Does it sound really selfish to say that I'm really happy that you crashed on this island?" She found herself whispering as she found herself falling into his eyes.

"Kinda." Jackson replied, even softer than she had. "But I get what you mean. I'm really happy that we were able to find you."

"That's not what I meant," she cut him off, looking at him from beneath her lashes. Before he could even consider responding, she pressed her lips quickly to his and pulled away, looking in the other direction.

He gently reached out and pulled her chin around. "Is it selfish of me to want you to do that again, despite what I said about no relationships on the island?" Instead of replying, she leaned in and kissed him again. He wrapped his left arm around her waist and pulled her closer. She laid a hand on his broad back. He nipped at her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to grant him entrance. As they ran out of breath, he placed his lips on her neck. "We shouldn't be doing this," he mumbled, sucking slightly on her pulse point.

"I know," she sighed, her head thrown back to give him better access. "I don't care though. Do you?"

"No." Jackson nipped her earlobe. "No," he growled.

The lightening flashed and the thunder boomed, but in the sanctuary of their cave, the two most damaged inhabitants of the island healed each other as best they could.

* * *

"_That's it; I'm toast."_ Eric thought as he settled himself under the palm tree directly to his left. The rolling thunder and pounding rain had drowned out the roar of the waterfall, and the lightening was pulling his attention away form the fact that there was the flicker of a fire visible behind the waterfall.

Eric decided to give it one last shot. "Nathan! Daley! Melissa!" When no answer was immediately forthcoming, he did something he never thought he would do. "Jackson! Sierra! Somebody! Help!" No answer came and Eric lowered his head.

A few minutes passed when he heard, "You know you could get fried there." He looked up and saw the face of his saviour; the man he had just been calling a lowlife an hour ago was standing in front of him, drenched in rainwater, and looking like he would rather be anywhere but there with him.

"Oh yes!" Eric cried desperately, launching himself off the ground and onto Jackson, pulling him into a hug. "I'm saved!" He pulled away from his leader, for Jackson was still his leader, and looked up at him angrily. "I've been looking all over for you! We've gotta get your butt back to camp!"

"Really?" Jackson asked doubtfully.

"Yes!" Eric exclaimed, acting like his top priority was getting his friend back to camp. "Do you know where it is?"

Jackson jerked his head to the south. "It's that way, but I'm not going back." He glanced up at the cave that he had just been in but was confused to see no sign of the fire. He predicted that the rain was blocking his view. He turned to return to it.

"Hey wait!" Eric chased after him. "Come on, Chief! You've gotta come back! You need us!"

Jackson turned on him. "I don't need you. And you sure don't need me." He turned to resume walking.

"I'm scared, alright?" Eric yelled from behind him. "I'm lost and I'm scared! And I'm a jerk! I thought you were a bad guy because I remember what I was like. Damnit, how I wish I didn't remember what I was like! I was a really bad person back home. But I realized something today. When Sierra chose to go with you, I realized something. We have something in common; we both have Sierra watching our backs and not giving up on us! And that's huge!" Jackson remained silent. "What can I say? I'm sorry I gave up your secret. I really need your help, man." Jackson looked at him once, and then glanced back up at the cave, barely discernible in the dark and the rain. He turned and began to walk.

* * *

Lex, Nathan, Daley, Taylor and Melissa were piled into the boys' tent, which was the biggest tent they had. Nathan had just regaled to the others how the rescue transmission they had received mid-day had gone unanswered because he had nearly been fried by lightening. He would have been cooked if Daley hadn't called out a warning. Nathan found himself falling even more for Daley. The tender moment caused by Taylor saying that she was glad that both Nathan and Daley were okay was broken by the tent unzipping from the outside.

Eric entered the tent, shaking the rainwater from his dirty blond hair. Everyone immediately began screaming his name and asking where he had been.

"Hey, hey! Everything's under control! I found Jackson and I brought him back."

"Where is he?" Melissa asked, anxious to see his handsome face once more.

"He's right…" Eric turned to the entrance of the tent, which was empty. "He was right behind me."

Melissa jumped over Taylor's legs and ran out of the tent. "Jackson!" He continued walking. "Hey, what are you thinking? There's a monsoon!"

"It won't last, I've got to try and find the others." Jackson replied, already on the path that would take him back to the cave with Sierra. He was kind of glad that they had heard Eric screaming for help; otherwise they would have found themselves regretting what they did in the morning. He had just been in the middle of lifting his shirt off her body when they had heard someone screaming their names. Sierra had forced him to go investigate.

"Listen to me!" Melissa grabbed his shoulder and spun him around. "Whatever happened back home doesn't matter!"

"Yes it does!" Jackson's voice cracked. "Don't you see? Whether I like it or not, it follows me. Do you want to know what happened?" Without waiting for a reply he continued, finding it easier to retell his story having already told Sierra. "I went home…to my old neighborhood…to tell them about this amazing adventure to the South Seas I was going on." By this point, though it was unclear with the rain, it seemed as if Jackson was in tears. And yeah, I was bragging. You know, I just wanted them to know I was doing something worthwhile for a change."

"What's wrong with that?" Melissa asked, obviously not understanding who the rougher neighborhoods worked.

"They said that I'd changed; that I was throwing in their faces that suddenly I was better than them. I thought I was talking to people who actually cared."

"So what happened?"

Jackson looked to the sky, remembering that night vividly. "One guy stood up for me. One guy. He got shoved and a fight broke out. I tried to break it up, but someone pulled a knife and…he got hurt. Perfect." Neither of them noticed the shadowy figure that approached from behind Jackson.

"Are you okay?" Melissa asked.

"Yeah, but now the cops are after me."

"But if it wasn't your fault-"

"It doesn't matter. I was there, I wasn't supposed to be. Someone got hurt." Jackson sniffed. "Where am I supposed to go now?"

Melissa pulled him into a hug. Jackson wrapped his arms around her and let a few tears escape his eyes. "You're already there." Melissa replied. "Without you we'd be lost."

"It's true." Nathan approached from behind Melissa. Jackson took a minute to compose himself.

"We finally got it to work." Daley added, coming to stand beside Nathan with Lex trailing after her. "Don't mess it up."

"We elected you. You can't resign." Lex reminded him. Jackson rubbed a hand over his forehead. Go back or stay here? Would Sierra understand? Of course she would, she'd been badgering him to go back to camp all day. But without her? Jackson didn't know if he could do it.

"I'm sorry, Chief." Eric said. "I truly am." Jackson continued to debate. Eric seemed to know what was bothering him. "She'll understand and find her way back to camp when she's ready." Jackson nodded.

"Hello!" Taylor yelled from the entrance of the camp. "It's raining out there."

Jackson raised his hand as if to check when he heard a familiar, thrilling giggle that reminded him of-for some strange reason-orchids. "Thank you, Taylor. Without you, nobody would know what was going on." The group of castaways looked around at Sierra, who had wandered into camp.

"What are you doing here?" Jackson asked.

"Well, I wasn't about to let you go out in the middle of a storm just to lead my idiot brother back to camp by yourself. Besides, you never know what guys like you are going to do. That's why I make it my business to keep tabs on you."

He laughed as she came and stood beside him.

"Want to get out of the storm?" Melissa asked, her eyes only on Jackson. He nodded and grabbed Sierra's hand, pulling her with them as the entire group walked through the rain, back to their tent to wait out the storm the way it should be. Together.

* * *

After Jackson had retold his story a third time, Daley suggested that, since it had been such a long day, they should all turn in. When the suggestion met with no arguments, they all settled down where they were sitting. With eight people in one tent, there wasn't a whole lot of room, so they were all snuggled together under the multitude of unzipped sleeping bags. Lex was in between Daley and Sierra, who had her head resting on Jackson's hip. Melissa was on the other side of Jackson. Nathan was nice and cozy with his chest against Daley's back. Eric and Taylor were close together, perpendicular to the others.

The first time Sierra woke up, it was from the nightmares. Frankie, her dad, her mom, Derek, her friends, and the nameless faces of the other people that were in the crash with her paraded through her dreams, calling to her. She awoke with a start, only to find that Jackson was brushing his fingers through her hair. After their moment in the cave, they seemed closer even though neither of them had broached the topic of what had happened and what they were going to do about it.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, careful not to wake any of the others.

"Yeah. Nightmares, you know?"

"Yeah, I get that. But you've got to go back to sleep."

"I don't think I can. Seeing all those people freaked me out."

"You're tired, so your brain is probably messing with you. Go back to sleep." The reassurance in his voice was all she needed to fall back into a light slumber, the sound of his breathing and the rain on the side of the tent a peaceful lullaby.

The second time she awoke it wasn't from nightmares, but from a tightening around her waist. She looked down and saw that Lex had wrapped his arms around her waist and had his face buried into her shoulder. Wondering why he had chosen her and not his sister, she glanced about and saw that Nathan and Daley were wrapped around each other in sleep.

"Lex?" Sierra whispered his name and felt him tremble. "Kiddo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he squeaked, but buried his head further into her as another flash of lightening illuminated the inside of the tent.

"Are you afraid of the storm?" she asked quietly.

She felt him nod. "It reminds me of the crash," he whimpered and held her tighter.

She wrapped her arms around him. "It's okay. The storm can't hurt you. Do you want to wake everybody up?"

"It's alright, we're already up." Nathan sounded from behind Lex. He and Daley sat up and Lex released Sierra in favour of his sister. Sierra felt Jackson move beneath her head, so they both sat up and sat beside one another. Slowly but surely Melissa, Taylor and Eric rose from their sleeping positions to sit huddled around the tent.

"Well, what's going on?" Taylor asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Lex was scared of the storm." Daley replied, holding her brother closer.

"So he decided to wake everybody up?" Eric asked crankily. He had had a really long day and all he wanted to do was sleep.

"No, he woke up Sierra first but Daley and I were already up." Nathan replied.

Eric went to look at his sister, who successfully avoided the look, as she had been doing all night. "What, aren't talking to me anymore?" Eric asked her.

"Just because Jackson forgave you for what you did, doesn't mean that I have to." Sierra replied, deciding not to look at him.

"Well, now that we're all awake, what are we going to do?" Melissa asked, trying to head off the argument before it started.

"It's not like we have a whole lot of choice. We can't go outside without getting fried or drowning." Jackson stated. Everyone jumped as an ear-splitting clap of thunder erupted outside. Lex buried his head into Daley's hair.

"_Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,_" Taylor began whispering. Everyone looked at her in surprise. "What? It was my favourite movie, and I always sing the song whenever I'm afraid or scared."

Melissa shrugged and began singing with Taylor. "_Brown paper packages tied up with string; these are a few of my favourite things._"

Sierra and Daley joined in. "_Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudel, doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles._"

With Daley elbowing him in the gut with every passing second, Nathan unwillingly added his voice to their harmony. "_Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings; these are a few of my favourite things._" At the third verse of the classic song Jackson and Eric had also added their voices. Lex pulled his head out of Daley's hair and began laughing. Together, they all sang the last verse and dissolved into laughter at how corny they were being.

"What's your favourite thing, Lex?" asked Nathan.

"Chinese food!' he suddenly exclaimed.

"Uh, pizza!" Eric yelled.

"Christmas presents!" Melissa laughed.

"Any presents!" Taylor corrected, laughing.

Soon, echoes of everyone's favourite things began bouncing off the thin walls of the tent. "Pirate ships", "Putting up the Christmas tree!", "Shopping!". Sierra began telling the story of how her father had once put the turkey in the oven at Christmas time, but forgotten to turn it on. Jackson topped her Christmas story by saying that, one Christmas, his grandfather hadn't been able to make the Christmas tree stand straight, so he had thrown the Spruce tree out onto their front lawn. Melissa spoke about the huge charade her parents would put on every year for her and her brother when they still believed in Santa Claus. Nobody really noticed the storm waning outside until they realized that Lex had fallen asleep. One by one, they all dropped off to sleep until only Eric and Sierra were awake.

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings. I was only trying to protect you." Eric whispered as his twin sister gently laid her head on Jackson's stomach in preparation for sleep.

"I know you were. I just spent a long time trying to convince Jackson that you were a good guy, and you went and pulled that stunt. You didn't even think that he could've been you if Dad had never divorced Mom."

"I realize that now, and I'm sorry."

"I know you are. I just need some time to forgive you."

"Alright, good night Sierra."

"Night Eric."

* * *

Sierra rolled so that she was staring up at Jackson's face with her head pillowed on his stomach. She was surprised to see him staring down at her. "Morning," she whispered, smiling gently.

"Morning. Sleep well?"

She hummed in content. "You make a really good pillow." They both laughed quietly.

"You know that we're going to have to talk about last night, right?" Jackson asked her.

"Yeah I know. But let's just enjoy it for a while, okay?" Jackson studied her for a while, then smiled and nodded.

"Morning everybody!" Melissa greeted them, rolling over and sitting up, stretching.

"Morning!" Nathan replied as he sat up, accidentally jostling Daley and Lex. They both sat up and greeted everyone.

"Why are we up so early?" Taylor moaned, cracking one of her eyes open to stare at them.

"Yeah, it's not like we can go anywhere with the storm outside!" Eric agreed, shoving his head into his sleeping bag and pulling part of the material over his ears.

"I think the storm's over now." Sierra mentioned, gesturing for everyone to be quiet. The thunder and rain noises were missing.

Lex stood and unzipped the tent, crawling out of the opening. Nathan exited behind him. Both took in the awful sight of their campsite.

"Whoa," Lex whispered, running off around the camp. Nathan took in the destruction left in the wake of the storm, not noticing as Daley came to stand beside him. Everything was gone. That was the only way to explain it. Tarps were strewn around the camp, and anything that they had left out in their haste for shelter had disappeared.

Melissa helped Taylor out of the tent, her foot bandaged and sore after being stuck with a stinger that Daley and Lex had removed while Nathan, Melissa and Eric were out looking for Jackson and Sierra.

Eric exited after them and surveyed the damage. "Wow that was some party!" Sierra and Jackson came to stand at the back of the group as they looked around what used to be their home.

Nobody noticed that Lex had gone to the beach until he came running back. "Guys, come here! Quick! The plane!" Daley, Nathan and Eric took off across the ruined campsite. Taylor looked around for someone to help her, and Jackson grabbed her around the waist. Taylor put her arm around Jackson's neck and together they hobbled down the beach, Sierra following. She figured that, if the view of his muscles that she had gotten the night before was an indicator, he was plenty strong enough to carry Taylor by himself.

They found Lex staring at an empty space on the beach. Daley came and put her hands on Lex's shoulders. "Oh man!" Their faces dropped in despair as they realized that the empty space was, in fact, where the plane had rested. All that was left was a few pieces of sheet metal and a door.

Jackson sauntered over to one of the pieces of sheet metal that formed a sort of platform.

"So what do we do now?" Taylor asked, scared of what had happened.

Jackson picked up the door and stood it in front of him. Nobody missed the significance that the door looked like a tombstone. "We start from scratch." Jackson announced. He shrugged his shoulders in response to their dumbfounded expressions. Slowly, as they surveyed the ocean that had taken the plane from them, one by one their expressions turned into those of determination. They could do this. If they didn't, they would die.

* * *

**A/N:** And so begins Day Eleven. Wow, it seems that my chapters are getting longer and longer. So what did you guys think? Was the chapter well written? What did you guys think about the Cave Scene? I have to admit, Suzanne Collins' book 'The Hunger Games' inspired that scene. Oh, and I don't own the song "My Favourite Things". That belongs to the owners of The Sound of Music. And I apologize if that scene got kind of corny, but corn is good for you, so suck it up, Buttercup. So, most authors tell their readers to read and review. You've already read the chapter, so please review. On a totally unrelated note, did you guys know that The Lion King is based off of Hamlet?

**A/A/N (another author's note):** Don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I'm Canadian, and a damn proud one at that. So if I get anything wrong, please let me know. And we spell differently up here, so if there's any spelling mistakes, I apologize.


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N:** Major props go out to angel2u. You are honestly the most awesome person ever. You guys have angel2u to thank for my updating. angel2u has been pushing me to update. I've got a tonne of homework, but I'll do my best to update on a semi-regular basis.

Chapter 8

The plane was gone. Only a wing remained. The center of the entire camp was demolished; ripped away from the survivors during the monsoon that swept across the island like the hand of God. 11 days they had survived and then the storm had hit. Most of their gear was gone, swept into the ocean with the plane. They all knew that they had to start all over, and that their chances of rescue had diminished now that the plane had disappeared; there was nothing for the searchers to see from the air.

The survivors of Flight 29 DWN were taking inventory of all they had left after the storm.

"Do you want the good news or the bad news?" Daley asked Lex, Nathan, Melissa and Taylor, the only four castaways at their camp.

"Just get the bad news over with." Nathan replied.

"Well, we're almost out of packaged food. Everything got thrashed, including all the fruit we collected."

"That's okay, we'll just pick more." Melissa said optimistically.

"Where?" Eric asked, walking into camp with one of his beach chairs. "All the fruit trees got stripped in the storm."

"We'll find more." Nathan said, irritated with how _happy_ Eric seemed. "What else?" he asked Daley.

"Well, with the plane gone, we don't have a solid place to store things or a marker to be seen from the air."

"And the radio was on board." Lex complained.

"Maybe that plane heard us." Melissa argued. During the storm, Nathan had almost gotten electrocuted trying to contact a plane that had responded to their SOS transmission.

"Yeah, and maybe there's a Tooth Fairy." Eric replied sarcastically,

"That's not funny."

"Well, if they heard us they'd probably be here by now!"

Eric and Melissa glared at each other as Jackson walked into camp with their tent over his shoulder. "Well, we're down to one tent." he stated, throwing the tent onto the ground.

"What?" Eric exclaimed in indignation. "We're all gonna sleep in the same place?"

"Eric, could you be a little more negative?" Nathan asked.

"Yeah, he could be." Sierra walked up and surreptitiously put her hand on Jackson's back. He casually draped his arm around her shoulders. "I've got my hammock, and any supplies that were in my cave. All in all, it's not much."

"You said there was good news?" Melissa turned her head to Daley. She had noticed the obvious display of physical attraction between Jackson and Sierra and couldn't bear to watch it.

"Well yeah!" Daley nodded enthusiastically. "None of us got hurt." They all looked down, sombrely. Though three of their little group had been trapped out in the storm for an extended amount of time, they all had emerged relatively unscathed.

"Guys I can't believe that it's been…eleven days!"

"Try three years." Sierra muttered.

Jackson squeezed her shoulders in comfort before looking at Nathan. "Look, its simple. Okay, we just have to rebuild. Why don't we just-"

"Okay, I am so sick of this teamwork thing!" Eric exclaimed, jumping out of his seat. Everyone began arguing against him.

"Eric, just keep your big mouth shut, for once in your life." Sierra rolled her eyes at her twin brother's antics. She still hadn't forgiven him for blowing Jackson's secret.

"Everyone's arguing about all these chores and rules and schedules! I'm starting to worry about the one thing that I care about most: me."

"There's a surprise." Sierra glared at him. Everyone else stared at him in shock. Eric raised his arms in aggravation and stormed away from camp.

"Eric, come back!" Melissa chased after him.

"Jackson, go after him." Daley pleaded.

"It's his choice." Jackson shook his head in defeat, as sick of Eric as his sister was.

Daley looked pleadingly at Nathan. "We're falling apart!" she cried, despairingly. She threw down her ever-present clipboard and walked after Eric. Nathan watched her go before following. Lex, not wanting to get left behind, chased after them.

Jackson looked down at Taylor, who was sitting forlornly on the cooler. "Well, what's your opinion?" he asked sarcastically. She continued to look at the baron stretch of sand in front of her. "Yeah, of course." Jackson shook his head as he bent to pick up the tent. He exited the campsite with Sierra in tow.

* * *

Eric was off with Taylor building a shelter for himself. Actually, Taylor was more of a hindrance than a help; she hadn't said a word since that morning.

"…Let Daley boss herself around for a change." Eric was saying. Taylor continued sitting there, catatonic. Eric laughed to himself. "Actually that's pretty funny. Best thing of all is that I have nobody in charge of me. So! I don't have to listen to anything Jackson has to say, ever again." Eric gave a sigh of relief as he turned, finding himself face to face with the aforementioned leader. It took everything Eric had not to give a yelp of shock. Jackson looked at him blankly. "Well, uh, that's just the way it's gonna be Chief." Eric walked past him. Jackson glanced over at Taylor, who was staring out at nothing.

* * *

Jackson and Sierra walked up to the rock face of the waterfall. The water levels had risen due to the storm, so the loud rumbling had reached a near-deafening level. "So, what exactly do you have up there?" Jackson asked her, watching her carefully as she slowly began climbing the cliff.

"Actually, not that much. A little food, our sleeping bags, the matches, and some wood. That's it." Sierra called down as he began to climb behind her.

"But still, not much is better than nothing."

"True." By this time, she was already hauling herself into the cave. She turned and helped Jackson is as well. "So, how exactly are we going to get this stuff out of the cave?"

"Easy. One of us will climb back down, and the other will throw the supplies gently back to them."

"You couldn't have told me this before we were both up here?"

Sierra sighed and settled cross-legged next to the fire pit. "You keep saying that we have to talk about last night. I figured this is the perfect place; no prying eyes, no interruptions. It's perfect."

"You're perfect," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." They sat in silence as Jackson allowed his flaming cheeks to return to their normal, tanned colour. "But we do have to talk."

"I know. Relationships are a bad idea here. If something happened; if we broke up, there would be no hiding from each other. There would be no time to heal. Last night was wonderful. I felt human again for the first time in a long time. But it was also a close call. With the absence of rules and ideologies, who knows how far we would go? Last night is proof of that. If Eric hadn't shown up when he did, we would've woken up this morning regretting what had happened. There are too many consequences to think about. And we should be focused on getting rescued. Now that there are more people here, we may actually have a chance of getting rescued and getting off this island." Jackson nodded his head slowly. These were the same arguments he was going to use on her, but, coming out of her mouth, they sounded wrong…like she was trying to convince herself as well as him. "And-"

"Do you care about me?" he asked.

"What?"

"Do you care about me?"

"Well, yeah, you're my best friend here. Hell, you're my best friend anywhere; my other friends don't know I'm alive."

"I mean, do you like me?"

"Jackson, I just said-"

"NO!" Sierra jumped back a little at his frustrated tone. "Do you _like me_ like me?"

Sierra flushed a brilliant red. "Well…I…um…"

"You said I make you feel human again, right?" Sierra nodded and he moved closer to her, so he could see the miniscule droplets of sweat running down her neck. "I haven't felt this way ever," he whispered. "Look, forget what I said earlier, about not having relationships. We've got so much stress and pressure on our shoulders right now; we need to remember what it's like to be human." He leaned forward and nipped her earlobe before bending his head and laying soft kisses intermingled with light nips and sucking on her neck. Sierra threw her head back and moaned. He worked his way across her collarbone to her other ear. "I need you. Crashing on this island is the best thing that ever happened to me because it brought me to you."

"Jackson…" Sierra sighed his name and leaned forward to capture his lips with hers. Their tongues battled back and forth. Sierra's hands tangled in his sandy blonde hair while Jackson's hands splayed across her back. Jackson ripped their lips apart when he felt that she needed to breathe, and he proceeded to leave bright red marks all the way down her neck to her pulse point. "Jackson, what about the others?"

"Screw the others. I'm sick of having to deal with their bullshit drama all the time. I just want to worry about you and me. That's all I care about."

"But…" Sierra moaned as he lightly bit down on her shoulder. "But, you're their leader."

Jackson pulled away, panting slightly. "I'll resign. Daley will be a better leader, and she wants it so damn badly, she can have it."

"You would do that for me?"

"I would do anything for you." At that, Sierra fused their lips together once more.

* * *

Nathan and Daley were sitting discussing what to do next. Nathan was acting like a lovesick puppy dog, agreeing with everything Daley said. Jackson stood watching them with his arms crossed. _"Which of them would be the better leader?"_ Jackson thought to himself. _"Daley's stubborn enough to get what she wants, but she's also crazy bossy, which would drive everybody nuts. At this point, Nathan would just agree with everything Daley would want to do, so he'd be useless. Even though I'm renouncing my role, that doesn't mean that I'm abandoning them. I've gotten them this far, but nobody trusts me now that Eric blew my secret. Except Sierra."_ Jackson grinned at the thought of his…Well, one could call her his girlfriend. The thought made him happy. He'd had girlfriends back in Fresno, but none of them could hold a candle to Sierra. They had returned a few minutes ago, carrying everything that Sierra had in the cave. After about 15 more minutes of kissing and making out, Jackson had scurried down the side of the cliff to catch everything that Sierra threw to him. They would have held hands back to camp, but 1) Their hands were full, and 2) They didn't want to get caught. She had left him to take a swim in the ocean when they had returned and settled all the supplies in. He had considered going with her, but she had denied him, swaying her hips seductively as she sauntered away from him. For a girl who hadn't been around guys for three years, she sure hadn't forgotten how to tease. He turned away from Nathan and Daley, and went to sit on the wing of the plane, staring out at the ocean. Sierra was far in the distance, trying to coax a shy dolphin towards her. She was wearing a brown and turquoise bikini that fit her just right. She had told Jackson that she had been forced to take some of the other girls' luggage from the plane as a precaution.

Jackson sat on the place wing, contemplating what it would have been like to be completely alone for three years. His facial expression grew serious as he considered that he might be in that predicament at present. 11 days; Nathan was right, they had been gone for so long with little sign on rescue. And now he was considering giving up leadership of the group of survivors. It was true; he was tired of all the group drama and Daley would make a way better leader than he did. _"And it's not like I'm giving up on the group; all the decisions will still affect me. I just can't make those decisions anymore."_ So immersed was he in his thoughts that he didn't notice Melissa climbing up the wing towards him until she was right in front of him.

"Hey," she greeted him. "Planning our next move?"

"Yeah, something like that." he replied, gazing out at the water. The dolphin was swimming away from Sierra and she was laughing as it playfully jumped out of the water.

"Well, I'm not worried." Melissa assured him. "You know, Eric's just being Eric and Taylor's never been much help anyways, but Daley and Nathan aren't competing anymore and you know I'm on your side, so…all you've got to do is figure out a way to get us all on the same page." she finished brightly.

He shot her a sarcastic glance paired with a lopsided grin. "Is that all?" He sighed. "You know Mel? I don't think everybody _wants_ to be on the same page."

She looked worriedly at him, and he hopped off the wing as Sierra trekked onto the beach. He threw her a towel, which she wrapped around her body. He followed her back to camp, where she ducked into the one tent they had and changed into a pair of jean short-shorts and one of Taylor's red tank tops. They were about to enter the jungle for some 'alone time' when Lex converged upon them, grabbing their hands and dragging them away. Melissa, suspicious, followed them at a discrete distance.

They passed Daley telling Eric off about taking one of the camp knives to use on his shelter and entered a different area of the jungle.

"I didn't want to tell anybody until I knew it was going to work." Lex was saying. "With everybody being so down, now might be a good time to show it." Lex's voice trailed back to Melissa as she crept quietly behind them. They came upon a black tarp lying on the ground.

"What is it?" Jackson asked.

Lex lifted one edge of the tarp, revealing its contents. "Ta-da!" Jackson crouched beside the tarp and Sierra stood behind him. Melissa could not see what was going on with them in her way. "What's the matter?" Lex asked, noting Jackson's serious face.

"It's good Lex, it really is." Jackson replied.

"So, what's wrong?"

"I don't know; it makes me feel like we're in bigger trouble than I thought." Jackson looked up at the young boy and stood up. He wandered deeper into the jungle.

At Lex's crestfallen expression, Sierra said, "I'll talk to him Lex. It's a great idea; I wish I'd thought of it." Sierra jogged after him. Lex covered up whatever was under the tarp and turned to leave. Melissa hid herself behind a tree as he passed, then moved to go after Jackson and Sierra. They had been acting weird all day, and she wanted to know what was going on.

She entered a small clearing. Jackson was standing in the center with his hands on his hips and his head tilted towards the sky. Sierra slowly approached him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She buried her head in between his shoulder blades. Melissa inhaled sharply and hid behind a tree, peeking her head between branches so she could see.

Their voices wafted to her on the breeze. "Jackson, you know that Lex was only trying to help."

"I know that, but still it-"

"Scares you?" Melissa saw Jackson nod his head. "I'm scared too Jackson. I've always been scared."

Jackson turned and wrapped his arms around her. "But you should have to be scared anymore. We should have been rescued by now. It's not fair to you."

"It's not fair to any of you. But it's happening."

Jackson sighed and buried his head into her shoulder. "You're right. We have to roll with the punches; we can't start freaking out about the future. I'll apologize to Lex later."

"Good." Sierra turned to walk away but Jackson ensnared her waist between his arms, pulling her flush against him.

"I'm not done with you yet." Jackson lowered his lips to hers and pressed her up against a tree close by. Melissa turned and fled.

* * *

"_I can't believe him! That lying, cheating…LIAR!"_ Melissa couldn't believe what she had seen. Jackson and Sierra? And after everything he had said about having no relationships on the island. He had lied to her face and was now stabbing her in the back. _"How could he do this to me? It's not like I like him like that any more, but still! I thought he liked me back! Am I not worth a long period to get over?"_ Melissa's thoughts were reeling. All she could see was the two of them. _"It all makes sense now! They've been touchy-feely since yesterday, but they've always been close. How did she get so close to him having only known him for a couple of days?"_ Melissa hated the new girl; she had completely taken her spot in the group.

By this time, Melissa had wandered into Eric's clearing, where he was trying to cut down a tree with one of the camp knives. Taylor was sitting on a log nearby. Taylor! She was the one person she could tell about Jackson and Sierra. With her big mouth, Taylor would have the news all over camp within the hour.

"Hey!" Melissa greeted her, a large smile on her face. "How's your foot?" Taylor stared at the blank stretch of sand in front of her. "You haven't said much about what's going on." Melissa mentioned. At Taylor's blank stare, Melissa felt her temper flare up. Everyone was acting like it was opposite day! Jackson wasn't following his own rules; Taylor wasn't speaking. "I wish you wouldn't ignore me!" Taylor didn't flinch. "Taylor, this isn't funny!" Melissa bent to examine Taylor's face. "Hey, are you okay? Taylor?"

* * *

Jackson and Sierra walked back to the edge of the jungle. They released their grip on each others hands and casually strolled back into camp. Jackson bent to assist Lex with mending a camp chair that had been damaged in the storm. He quickly apologized for his earlier behaviour and Lex beamed at him.

"It's alright! I just thought it would be better to plan ahead."

"It's a great idea Lex. I'm proud of you."

Lex smiled brightly at him as Nathan and Daley walked into camp, discussing shelter plans.

Melissa ran into camp. "I've got a problem." Everyone looked up. "It's Taylor."

"So, what else is new?" Nathan laughed

"She's totally non-functional!" Melissa protested.

"That's not new." Everyone laughed.

"This isn't funny! Everything that's happened…it must have just put her over the edge or something; it's like she's in shock!"

"She hasn't said very much." Lex added.

"She hasn't said anything!"

"That is weird." Daley commented.

"So, what should we do?" Lex asked.

"Jackson?" Daley looked at their leader, who remained silent as Eric stormed over from the supply bin.

"Nothing! Stop trying to run peoples lives!" he told her.

"But Taylor's hurting!" Melissa told him.

"She'd be fine if you left her alone! Back me up on this one, Chief! You heard me say it: everyone for themselves."

"It is?" Lex looked amazed.

"We're falling apart here Jackson. You need to do something!" Jackson lowered his head into his hands as Sierra sat protectively next to him. She knew that he was contemplating relinquishing his leadership for her, but she would never force him to. At the rate things were going, they were going to force him to resign. Or blow up at them.

"Yeah man! You're the leader; lead us!" Nathan piped up.

"You guys don't need a leader; you need a referee." Jackson replied.

"What does that mean?"

Jackson slowly stood. "I didn't want this job in the first place!" he replied angrily. "I'm not good at dealing with drama!"

"But that's part of the job!" Daley protested.

"Yeah, which is why I think you'd be better at it then me!" Jackson pointed at her.

Silence ensued until Daley asked, "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that maybe I should step back and let someone else take a shot." Jackson turned to walk away from the shocked expressions. "I'm gonna go check on Taylor." He began walking down the beach. "You coming?" he called back. Sierra stood and scurried to his side, leaving the rest of the camp in a stunned silence.

"What just happened?" Nathan asked one they were out of earshot.

"I think he resigned." Melissa looked after him, noting how he placed his arm around Sierra's shoulder and pulled her gently into his side.

* * *

"So, how was that?" Jackson bent his head to look at the petite girl walking beside him.

"You know that you didn't have to do that, right?" Sierra responded, glancing up into his stormy blue eyes.

"I know. But I wanted to. I just can't deal with them. Like I said, they need a referee."

"Or a psychiatrist." Sierra mumbled.

Jackson laughed and kissed her hair. "Yeah, maybe they need a shrink."

They walked in companionable silence until they could see Taylor sitting on the log where Melissa had left her. "I think you should talk to Taylor alone." Sierra mentioned, stopping alongside him.

"Why?"

"Because two people may overwhelm her. Plus, you said that you were going to talk to her. If you make no progress, I'll take a shot at it."

"Okay." He bent his head to kiss her sweetly then went to sit by her. Somehow, Eric had beaten them there, and he was giving Taylor a pep talk on how not to listen to them.

Jackson slowly approached her from behind. "Hey." He shook his head a little; he was terrible with girls. The only girl that really got him was Sierra, which meant that Melissa and Taylor and Daley were lost to him. "Having fun yet?" He crouched next to her and looked at Eric attempting to build a shelter. "Look, um…" He paused to consider how to broach the subject. "Nobody here is as brave or as strong as they pretend to be, you know? You take a lot of grief." He laughed a little. "Of course, you give a lot of grief too. But I think you're the only one that's, you know, truly honest." He paused and waited. Of course, he wasn't adding Sierra into the mix. He was only speaking about the group from Flight 29 DWN. "If you ever want to talk…" Jackson let his sentence trail off, knowing that she knew what he meant. He stood and walked away, not noticing as Taylor slowly blinked and turned to look at him.

* * *

Nathan and Daley were on a mission. They passed Melissa and Nathan called out to her to follow them. Daley shrugged her shoulders, unsure of what Nathan was doing. Melissa ran to catch up to them.

Lex was with his piece of tarp when he heard Nathan call out for him. "Lex? Lex, come here!" Lex scurried behind.

Jackson was carrying two water jugs towards camp. "Hey, follow me."

"No clue." Melissa said in response to his questioning glance. He dropped the water jugs and turned to follow.

Sierra was sitting next to Taylor in the tent, watching Eric struggle with cutting down the tree when Nathan, followed by the group, walked towards the tent.

Nathan turned towards Eric. "Hey Eric!' Eric turned to look at him. "We're having a meeting!"

Eric waved his hand at him. "Yeah okay, I'll be right there!"

"What's going on?" Lex questioned.

"I'm calling a meeting." Nathan replied.

"What about Eric?" Melissa asked.

Nathan turned. "Hey, you coming?" Eric ignored him.

Jackson came up beside Nathan. "What's this about?"

"It's about what Eric's doing. And it's about all of us." Jackson took a seat on the cooler while Sierra sat in front of him. "Alright guys, we've been stuck 11 days and we're starting to have doubts. But I have no doubt in my mind; we will be rescued. It might be soon, it might be longer, but we will be rescued. We've survived a plane crash! We've found food; we've found water; we've found another survivor to add to our group!" Nathan nodded his head respectfully at Sierra. "We've been through sickness and storms, injuries and bugs! And we're still here! And I think there's only one reason for that. It's because we all play a part. We can criticize and argue and complain all we want. But the bottom line: we need each other! Every choice we make, it affects us all. So, we need somebody to keep us focused, we need a leader. Now Jackson has done a great job, but he doesn't want to do it anymore, and that's cool. But we still need someone. And not somebody to be the boss, not to order us around, but to keep us from spinning out of control. And I think it's pretty obvious who that person should be." Nathan looked full front at Daley. Everyone else considered her; Jackson and Melissa were nodding their heads. "We all need to take responsibility because, if we don't, it doesn't matter how long it takes for those rescue planes to come. We won't make it. It's as simple as that: if we don't stand together, we won't make it." There was a pause to let Nathan's words sink in. Jackson stood and slapped him on the arm. Sierra stood, smiled and nodded. Lex moved to stand next to Nathan. Melissa stood up as well. Soon enough, everyone by Taylor was standing, ready to take on the challenge of rebuilding.

"Timber!" Eric yelled, breaking their silence. The tree he had been sawing at began to fall. "No!" Eric shouted as it switched direction towards his shelter. "No, no, no, no, no!" Everyone regarded the now shattered shelter. Sierra bit her lip to keep from laughing while Jackson had an 'I-told-you-so' smirk on his face. "NO!" Eric stomped his foot like a child.

Slowly, a quiet laugh sounded behind the group of standing survivors. The laugh rose steadily in volume and joyousness until it sounded almost hysterical. They all turned to see Taylor nearly rolling on the ground laughing. "Now that is funny!" Taylor exclaimed. Everyone began to laugh along, mostly in relief. Jackson shook his head and resumed his seat. Taylor was okay, and that was all that mattered. That and the beautiful girl who had just sat beside him, laughing ecstatically. Once again, her laugh reminded him of orchids. A strange comparison, but it was exotic and happy. Jackson sighed with happiness.

* * *

"You are going to love this." Lex called to his friends. He was leading them along the same path he had led Sierra and Jackson earlier that day.

"Unless it involves pizza, I doubt it." Taylor yelled back as she stepped into a hole. "Ow! Lex! What did you do, set booby-traps?"

"I think I liked it better when she wasn't talking." Nathan muttered to Daley under his breath.

"I was afraid the storm would wash it all away, but I had it pretty well protected." Lex explained as they came upon the tarp weighed down with stones.

"Wow. This is the best looking chunk of plastic I've ever seen." Taylor said sarcastically, turning to leave.

She walked right into Jackson. "Wait." he commanded as he walked towards Lex.

"I started this right after we crashed. I just didn't want to show you guys until I knew it was going to work. Pretty soon we'll have our own source…for food." Lex and Jackson bent to lift up the tarp and reveal the baby garden.

"It's a garden!" Daley exclaimed, walking around to get a better view."

"There are tomatoes, squash, melons, corn, and carrots."

"Lex, this is incredible!" Melissa said as she kneeled down to inspect it.

"Where'd you get the seeds?" Nathan asked.

"Mostly from the packaged food, but I found some things growing wild."

"Wait," Eric interrupted, confused. "So you're saying, you planted tomatoes and we're gonna get, like, more tomatoes?"

"Yeah, that's pretty much how it works."

"That's like magic!" Taylor whispered, shocked.

"Lex, this is amazing." He smiled brightly at his step-sister. "How long before we get fruit?"

"Depends on the plant." Lex answered. "We should see something in about a couple months."

Everyone looked crestfallen.

"Alright, so the good news is, we'll have a decent food supply in a couple of months." Nathan said optimistically.

"The bad news is we might be here to eat it." Jackson added, always the pessimist. He turned to walk away, leaving everyone around the leafy garden.

* * *

**A/N:** Holy! Do you guys owe me or what? Actually, I owe you guys. Thanks for sticking with me. And I'm sorry about the wait. I sincerely hope it was worth it. Peace out, Fanpire.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N:** He he he… Awkward silence. So….I guess you guys really have angel2u to thank for my update. Just a very brief overview of my life since I disappeared: my show Gigabyte Me, _Such is My Beloved_ unit in English, my History teacher became a hardass overnight, my culminating tasks for 2 courses, thousands of assignments for 4 classes, prom, graduation, my uncle's in the hospital, I'm trying to find a part-time job, and now I'm sick. So. If any of you loyal readers are still out there, I hope you enjoy this. It's been half-finished for a while, so I just finished it as best as I can. Please, be kind. Be gentle. I'm just getting back into the swing of things.

Chapter 9

Late that night, another storm unleashed its fury upon the survivors. Since they had lost their second tent, they were all cramped in the big tent that none of them fit comfortably in. Sierra had opted to sleep outside in the rain since there was no lightening and only moderately strong wind. Since Lex was still afraid of storms, he sat awake with a flashlight, reading his book. Beside him, Nathan lay beside Eric. Jackson was pushed up against him by the flimsy wall of the tent. On the opposite side of the tent, Daley and Melissa slept side by side. Taylor pushed herself up on the other side of Melissa. She glanced at Lex, who kept accidentally shining the light into her eyes. She leaned over Melissa so that she was closer to Daley.

"Daley," she whispered. "Hey! Are you asleep?"

"Yes." Daley replied, her eyes remaining closed.

Melissa sat up slightly and rested her weight onto her elbow. "Well, I'm not," she replied drowsily. "Not anymore."

"Someone needs to tell Lex to turn off his light. I can't sleep." Taylor complained.

"You tell him." Melissa replied as she settled her head back into her pillow.

Taylor looked at Lex, who continued reading, obliviously. "Hey, Peewee!" Taylor suddenly yelled, causing everyone to jolt awake. "Go to sleep!"

Eric sat up and drowsily asked what was going on while unknowingly rolling into Nathan. "Ow! Toenails!" Nathan exclaimed as Eric dug them into his leg.

Eric rolled the other way to get away from Nathan. "Ow! Knees!" Jackson awoke with a jerk, pushing Eric the other way.

"Go to sleep!" Melissa shouted.

"I'm trying to!" Eric shot back at her.

"Then go outside!" Nathan requested.

"It's raining!"

"What is the big deal?" Daley asked.

"I can't sleep because of that light!" Taylor pointed at Lex.

"Then go sleep outside!" Eric restated Nathan's request.

"Not to be the one to point fingers," Taylor glared at him. "But YOU STINK!"

"Taylor!" Melissa reprimanded.

"It's cool," Eric said, standing up. "I'll just move over here." Eric tried to step over Nathan but tripped and brought the support beam for the tent down with him. The tent immediately sank on top of the group. Everyone stuck their hands out to keep the tent from blocking their sight. Nathan and Daley jumped up to hold the tent up while Lex searched for the beam. Everyone was screaming at Eric and each other.

Nathan looked at Daley, across the tent from him. "We need to get a bigger tent."

* * *

Everyone had deep grey bags under their eyes from their sleepless night.

Taylor wandered into camp after having a quick wash in the ocean. "I love you guys, I do," she began, sounding like a zombie. "But sleeping together in that mosh is just…ew." She seated herself on one of the logs around the fire pit.

Sierra yawned and ruffled her hair as she walked into camp from the other direction. "Would someone mind explaining to me what exactly the yelling and the screaming were about last night?"

Jackson looked up at her and smirked. "It's a long story."

"It's true. The moral of the story is that we have to build a shelter; one for boys and one for girls." Daley stated.

"That's two shelters." Eric corrected.

"One shelter and one tent." Nathan explained.

"I call dibs on the tent." Taylor called.

"We can build something by the fire where it's nice and warm." Lex thought aloud.

"Really? I call dibs on the shelter." Taylor changed her mind.

"But there are no trees here. Don't we need trees for protection?" Melissa asked.

"Well, a tonne of good that did us last time." Eric argued, remembering the storm and how, despite the trees, their shelter had been ruined.

"Wherever we build it, it's gonna be tough making it comfortable." Daley added.

"I call dibs on the tent." Taylor butted in.

"I like sleeping on the sand." Melissa said thoughtfully.

"A shelter won't be sealed like the tent. We have to build it off the ground to stay dry." Lex told her.

"Double dibs on the tent!"

"That's a lot of work." Jackson mused.

"Yeah, too much work." Eric agreed.

"And it's gotta stand up to another storm." Nathan added.

"So let's build a platform." Melissa suggested.

"I thought you liked the sand?" Eric mocked her.

"Shut up Eric." Sierra smacked him as she walked by on her way to the ocean.

"Aren't you sticking around to help?" Daley asked.

"I've got my shelter. I'll help you guys as much as I can for as long as you want, but you don't need me to debate with you."

Lex watched her go before saying, "It's gotta be built near the fire or else it's gonna get really cold."

"Then we'll just move the fire over there." Daley suggested.

"Dibs on the shelter!"

"Fire under the trees? Not smart." Jackson made a rebuttal.

"Dibs on the tent."

"Wait a second, who's gonna build this thing?" Eric asked. Everyone began speaking at once.

"Whoa, whoa!" Daley stood.

"I call dibs on… Wait, what are we doing again?" Taylor looked confused.

"We're arguing. Again! We can't let everything turn into a fight guys!"

"You're the boss; tell us what to do." Eric said sarcastically.

"Well, we'll try something new. We'll vote."

Eric laughed. "That's not new."

"Well, yeah it is. Last time we voted to elect a leader." Daley gestured to Jackson.

"Yeah!" Nathan agreed. "This is about everyone having a say in what happens. Like a democracy."

"But there are eight of us now, we could tie." Melissa reminded them.

"If we tie, then Daley can make the final decision because she's the leader." Jackson stated.

"Exactly! If it works, we can just vote every time we have an issue." Daley said enthusiastically. She looked around the roughly formed circle. "Who's up for it?" she asked, raising her hand. Slowly, everyone at the camp put up their hand. "Done! See, that wasn't so hard."

"Wait, but all we did was vote to vote!" Taylor argued. "What are we going to vote on next; how to vote?"

Daley stepped onto the cooler. "No, it's simple. Who's in favour of building a new shelter?" Everyone raised their hands. "Done; we build. Now, where are we going to build it? Who says near the fire?" Daley, Nathan, Lex, Melissa, and Jackson raised their hands. "Okay, that's five out of seven; done. We build here. Now, do we build it on the ground for comfort or off the ground for safety? Who says sand?" Eric, Melissa, and Taylor raised their hands. "Who says off the ground?" Everyone else raised their hands. "Good, four out of three; we build a platform. Now who is going to sleep on it, boys or girls?"

"That's not fair; they have on more than us. Sierra!" Taylor turned around and bellowed for the extra girl.

"No, she won't vote on the shelter, remember? But you're right." Daley looked around. "Debate?" she suggested.

"Maybe we should build it first, and then decide?" Melissa offered.

"Okay, who agrees with Melissa?" Everyone raised their hands.

"Good! People, we have a democracy!" Everyone nodded proudly.

* * *

"So it really worked?" Sierra asked Jackson as they wandered through the jungle holding hands.

"Yeah, I was pretty surprised. It won't last though."

"You don't think so?"

"Nah, everyone will still do what they want to do when the vote doesn't go their way."

"I don't know. If everyone wants it to work, then it should work."

Jackson shot her a wry look. "And you think Taylor and Eric are selfless enough to go along with the group decision?"

Sierra laughed. "Good point. I'll take care of my brother when the time comes. Taylor is all yours."

Jackson twirled her into him. She looked up into his eyes and spotted the rare laughter in them. "And why is Taylor all mine? Aren't girls always trying to keep other girls away from the guys they like?"

"And who says that I like you?" Sierra replied, straight-faced.

"Yeah? I could've sworn that you've said that you like me."

"Who me? Nah, must've been someone else."

Jackson playfully glared at her. "You know what? You're right. It was Daley who said that she was totally into me."

"Daley? Well, now I'm really gonna have to break a bitch." Sierra turned to stalk away but Jackson's arms were vice-like around her waist.

"Ha, I knew that you liked me." Jackson laid gentle kisses down the back of her neck.

"Okay, okay. You win." Sierra sighed, content.

"Of course I do." Jackson scooped her up into his arms, walked a few paces, and sat down under a palm tree over looking the ocean with Sierra in his lap. Sierra adjusted herself so that her head rested in the hollow between his neck and shoulder. Jackson wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You know, I don't think I've felt this relaxed since I moved to L.A."

"I know I haven't felt this relaxed in…forever. Back home I was always fighting, drinking, or trying to find some money. I hate to say it, but I kinda like being here. There's no one to tell me what to do and no reason to fight. This place could be paradise if we were here by choice."

"I know how you feel. This place is freedom. And no matter how much I want to go back, I think I'll miss this place when it comes time to leave."

"The island has taken care of me for years; it's been my home. I don't know how I'm gonna be able to leave."

Jackson tightened his arms around her waist. "We'll do it together. We're all a family now and family's stick together."

Sierra nuzzled her head into his neck. "I like having you as my family," she mumbled.

"I like having you as my family too," he whispered, and he held her as she fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

Melissa strolled up to Nathan, who was brushing the sand off the wing with a palm frond.

"We gotta keep the sand off this thing; it'll be easier to see from the air." Nathan explained.

"Why don't we use this for the shelter?" Melissa suggested.

"I don't know; maybe it would be better if we leave it here so it can be seen from the air."

"Maybe we should get Daley to vote on it," she teased.

"Yeah really," he laughed. "I gotta tell you, I was impressed. That was pretty cool how she stepped up."

"Life is going to be so much easier now; it'll be like a whole new beginning."

"I know. That's why I've decided to tell her the truth."

Melissa looked up at him, shocked. "You mean…"

"Yep. I'm gonna tell her how much I like her."

"You're not worried about how weird things could get?"

Nathan gave her a look. "I'm totally freaking out inside. But we've got to be honest with each other here. If we keep secrets, things are going to get ugly, fast."

Melissa nodded, thinking about a couple of people that were keeping a massive secret. "You're doing the right thing."

Nathan chuckled humourlessly. "Yeah, we'll see. Talk to me after I've talked to her." Melissa slapped his back as she walked away.

She came across Jackson with Sierra asleep in his lap. She took a deep breath. "Can I talk to you? In private?"

Jackson looked up at her and nodded. "Just one sec." He gently shook the sleeping girl that was using his leg as a pillow. Somehow he had been able to shift her from a sitting position and she had latched onto his leg, wrapping her arms around it. "Sierra, wake up."

"Hmm," she sat up slightly as he moved the strands of hair from her eyes. "What's going on?" Sierra asked in a sleepy voice.

"Nothing, I just need you to sit up. Mel wants to talk to me in private."

"Okay," she replied, sitting up and rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She yawned. "I can't believe I fell asleep."

"I can. You slept in the rain last night, and we woke you up because you're idiot brother knocked the tent pole down."

Sierra laughed as she motioned for him to get up. "You guys go; I'm going to see what said idiot brother is up to." She waved as she sauntered away in the general direction of camp.

Jackson tore his eyes away from her to look at the slightly angry looking Asian standing in front of him. "What's up, Mel?"

"Nathan likes Daley and he's going to tell her, regardless of the consequences."

"Good for him."

"But when you found out that I liked you, you said that it was a bad idea for us to be together here."

Jackson sighed; he had a feeling that this had been coming. He had had a sneaky suspicion that someone had figured out about he and Sierra, he had just thought that it had been Eric. "I know Mel. But, what if we never get off this island? Are we supposed to just die without getting to know what love is? Nobody here has the willpower to just shut off their emotions like that."

"I did that with you."

Jackson sighed again. "Look, Mel, you're like the little sister that I never had. I love you as a little sister."

"Well, it's not like it took you long to replace me."

"What are you talking about?"

"What am I talking about? I'm not blind Jackson! I can see the way you act with her. It's disgusting."

"Melissa, come on."

"No, listen to me Jackson. You and Sierra are all lovey-dovey when you think nobody's watching, but you don't realize how much this could affect everybody else. A secret as big as this could be catastrophic to all of us. Not to mention how Eric will react when he finds out that you're dating his twin!"

Jackson sighed and cursed under his breath. "Look Melissa. Nobody needs to find out right now. Okay? Sierra's still pretty freaked out around people. That's why we haven't told anyone. People would start yelling or asking questions and she doesn't need that right now!"

"She needs to get used to being social!"

"Do you realize how long it's been since we met her? It's been less than a week! Two of those days she's spent running away because she got scared. How do you imagine she'll react when people start crowding and asking questions, or, even worse, yelling at her?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Why are you so hostile towards her?" Melissa's mouth opened and closed like a fish before she turned and stormed away.

* * *

Eric ran down the beach with an old, rusted box. He surreptitiously looked around, before crouching and attempting to open said box. He didn't notice Taylor sitting up behind the sand dune and observing his actions.

"Hey!" she yelled. Eric started, eyes wide as he looked up at her. "What's that?"

"It's mine! Don't tell anyone!"

Melissa popped up next to Taylor and ran down the dune. "Hey, what's that?"

"What've you got, baby brother?" Sierra snuck up behind him.

"Whatever it is, it looks old." Jackson added. Eric contained the urge to roll his eyes. His sister and the man he affectionately calls 'Chief' were like thunder and lightening. Where one was, the other was not far behind and if you caught them together, you would want to get out of there because things would get ugly (at least in Eric's mind) quickly.

As Lex joined them, Eric snapped. "For a deserted island, it's getting pretty crowded!"

"That's not from the plane!" Melissa stated as Lex rolled his eyes.

"What's in it?"

"Maybe it's a radio!"

"Or a map or tools!"

"Okay, well whatever is in it is mine! So get your greedy little eyes off of it!" Eric picked up his camp knife in preparation of prying the box open.

As he pressed the blade to the edge of the box Lex cried out, "STOP!" The knife slipped and Eric's wrist bent the wrong way.

"OW! Now what!"

"That's looks like an old ammo box, probably from the Second World War." Lex cried.

"Thanks for the history lesson, now go away!"

"Everybody back off." Lex commanded, urging everyone away from the box slowly.

Eric picked up the knife again and pressed it into the crease between the lid and the rest of the box. He looked up as everyone around him slowly backed away as if he had some kind of disease. "Did I miss something?" he asked.

"If there's ammo in there, even if it's old and you hit it the wrong way…KA-BOOM!" Lex explained.

"Yeah right, no way!" Eric scoffed. Realizing that his knife was not doing the trick, he picked up a rock, ready to break the box apart. Sighing, he dropped the rock and walked away, muttering, "No way I'm getting blown to bits."

* * *

Daley and Lex stood staring at the old ammo box. "Could it really explode?" Daley asked.

"Well, probably not. But it's rusted shut and Eric wants to smash it open. Gunpowder and smashing don't mix." Lex replied.

"If there's any chance of that happening, we should just bury it and forget about it."

* * *

Melissa and Jackson were at camp, attempting to rebuild the tent that Eric had so kindly knocked down in the middle of the night. Sierra had convinced Daley that getting Lex away from that box was the only way to divert his attention from it, so Sierra had taken Lex out onto one of the safe trails that wound deep into the jungle before coming out by a large cave on the Eastern side of the island. Sierra had said that they would be gone most of the day, if Lex didn't get tired.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Melissa was still angry that Jackson wouldn't tell her the truth, and Jackson was angry that Melissa could be so brash about Sierra's feelings.

"So," Melissa cleared her throat. "What do you think of Daley's voting idea?"

"You mean Daley's democracy? It's a little idealistic."

"Why?" Melissa looked shocked that Jackson didn't think it was a good idea. After all, many countries ran on democracy.

"Because everyone's going to do what they want no matter how the vote goes."

"Well, not if we all agree to the principle…" Melissa replied slowly, not wanting to begin another argument. "I mean, everyone wants a democracy, right?"

Jackson nodded. "Sure, until the vote doesn't go their way."

"I think you're wrong." Melissa replied, albeit a little too forcefully. She bit her lip as Jackson glanced at her. "This is gonna work."

"We'll see."

* * *

Sierra and Lex had returned from their hike early, as Sierra had secretly predicted to Jackson. The trail was long and steep, and she knew that Lex didn't have the stamina to keep up the pace. So they had looped around, coming back to the shoreline, and they had spent the rest of their day together playing in the surf and finding seashells. By the time they had come back to camp, dirty; tired; but smiling at the fun they had, Daley was ducking in behind the canopy they had put up.

"Okay," she addressed the group of survivors. "I worked out a construction plan, subject to everyone's agreement. First off, Lex should design the shelter so it's strong and well-structured." Everyone murmured in agreement, making Lex glow with pride. He sat on a log next to Sierra. When they had arrived back at camp, Jackson had adjusted himself so that his head was resting against her knees. Every so often, she would run her fingers through his hair and he would close his eyes in contentment. To divert suspicion, she would murmur that he needed to wash his hair, or how badly they would all have split ends by the time they got home. Jackson patted Lex on the leg as Daley made the announcement. "So, everyone's okay with that?" As everyone nodded in agreement, Melissa shot Jackson an 'I-told-you-so' look, causing Jackson to retaliate with a 'just-you-wait' glance accompanied with a raised index finger, indicating 'Just wait a minute for everything to come crashing down'. Daley continued: "Faze one: Nathan and Jackson will cut down bamboo and trees for construction materials. Taylor and Melissa will weave husks and twine. I'll collect palm fronds for the roof. Since we'll all be working so hard, we're going to need some extra water from the well." Eric nodded sarcastically, knowing that he, as always, would be stuck with water duty. "That's Eric's job."

"Big surprise." Eric shot at her.

"So…is that okay with everyone?"

"Yes. Very efficient. Now," Taylor said, standing up. Melissa shot Jackson another look, and he retaliated with the same combination of doubtfulness. Sierra leaned forward, resting her elbows on Jackson's shoulders to hear what Taylor would say. "Can we please talk about something important?"

"Like?"

"Like what's in that box!" Taylor pointed at the box Eric was cradling like a newborn baby. "I mean, I think it belongs to everybody!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Finders keepers!"

"I though we already established that that isn't a law." Sierra mumbled in Jackson's ear, causing him to laugh.

"We're supposed to share everything." Nathan replied.

"No!" Lex protested. "We shouldn't even open it up!"

"I think we should at least find out what's in it." Nathan argued. Now it was Jackson's turn to shoot Melissa the 'I-told-you-so' look, which Melissa returned with a glare.

"Whatever's in it, it's mine. End of discussion."

"How about we put it up to a vote?" Daley suggested.

"You vote! This box is mine! You guys can fetch yourselves the extra water!" Eric stormed out of camp.

"Well, if he doesn't have to do his job, I'm not going to do mine either." Taylor added, following Eric. Daley and Nathan ran after them, with Lex chasing behind yelling at them to wait.

Jackson settled his head back onto Sierra's thighs, rationalizing that Melissa knew about them already anyways. He rolled his head over to glance at the Asian sitting across from him. "And so goes the shortest democracy in history." Melissa slowly got up and walked away, in the opposite direction of the others.

"Looks like you were right." Sierra stroked his forehead as she combed her fingers through his hair. He closed his eyes at the soothing motions of her hand.

"Of course I'm right. The second Daley assigned Eric to water duty I knew things would go downhill. One thing I know about your brother is that he does not like to be patronized. Especially by Daley."

"Eric doesn't like to be thought of as incompetent. He's used to being the hot shot on the block, not the weakest link of the team."

"Well, you need to talk him out of being stupid. Despite everything, democracy is a good idea. I just knew that with Eric and Taylor on board, things would go south quickly."

"I'll talk to him." She leaned forward, kissing him on the forehead. "You talk to Taylor."

"Deal." He wrapped his hand around the back of her neck, pulling her down for a Spider Man-esque kiss.

* * *

Nathan was working on cutting down a piece of bamboo deep in the jungle. Sierra had brought them to a huge clearing, left relatively untouched by the monsoon. She and Jackson were across the way, cutting bamboo side-by-side.

Daley crept up beside him. "Are we the only ones working?"

"No, Jackson and Sierra are over there cutting down bamboo. Melissa's back at camp weaving."

"Eric and Taylor?"

Nathan chuckled. "What do you think?"

"The only way a democracy is going to work is if everyone wants it to work."

"Don't stress, they'll come around."

They were silent for a few minutes before Daley realized something. "Hey Nathan, what did you want to talk to me about earlier?" While the others had been gathered around the mysterious box, Nathan and Daley had been at camp and Nathan had been about to tell Daley how he felt.

Nathan stumbled over his words. "Somewhere along the line –"

"Hey guys, check this out!" Jackson passed by them carrying a huge piece of bamboo. It was so long that it was dragging on the jungle floor.

"Whoa! Let me help you with that!" Daley scurried off to grab the other end of the grass.

"Hey Nathan, you want to help me with mine?" Sierra appeared carrying a piece just as long as Jackson's.

"Yeah, I guess."

* * *

Later that day, while all the 'construction workers' were taking a break, Jackson and Sierra sat in her waterfall clearing, dangling their sore feet in the cool water. He had just finished telling her about the fantasy he had had about the mystery box.

"I didn't know you were a musician." Sierra exclaimed as he told her about the harmonica in his dream.

Jackson shrugged modestly. "My dad taught me before he left. Just guitar and harmonica."

"That is so cool. I wish I could do something like that. Eric's not bad on the drums, from what I remember. Derek used to play guitar too. The three of us would sit out on corners and try to make some money. Eric would beat his drum sticks on Derek's guitar case, Derek would play, and I would sing."

"You sing?"

Sierra went bright red. "A little. But I'm no good."

"I doubt that! No good street corner band is complete without a good singer. And I heard you the night of the storm, you were really good."

"I was just goofing around."

"Well imagine what you could do if you were serious." Jackson put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Maybe we could jam together when we get home?" Sierra looked up at him through her eyelashes. This was the first time they had ever mentioned staying together when they got back to reality.

Jackson smiled down at her and gave her a lingering kiss on the cheek. "I would love that."

* * *

Everyone congregated around the area Nathan had sectioned off for the new shelter.

"Well," Daley said as she looked down at the pile of supplies. "It's a good start. We all worked hard. Well…some of us did." she added, shooting Taylor and Eric dirty looks. 'But there's no way of knowing what lies ahead. All we can do is make the best of what we've got." Daley bent and, using her shovel, she pulled away a small pile of sand and dirt. "It's official." Daley looked around, smiling. "We've broken ground on our new home."

Nathan slammed one of the pieces into the hole. "It's time to build a new life."

"Together." Jackson added, casually resting his arm on Sierra's shoulders.

"Could we make this any more sappy and depressing?" Eric asked.

"ARE YOU GOING TO OPEN THAT BOX OR NOT!" Taylor screamed at him.

Jackson moved forward. "I'll do it."

A fracas ensued, as the two men fought over the box. It finally flew out of Eric's arms and landed in the sand, cracking open. There was no explosion, no big KA-BOOM, nothing.

"Go ahead, Eric. It's all yours." Nathan said, taking a hasty step away from the box.

"Uhh…On second thought, I'd like to share with everybody."

Jackson moved over and gently opened the box. "It's empty, right?" Nathan asked.

"Not exactly," he replied, pulling out old papers, an old pocket-watch, an army cap. "It looks like stuff that belonged to a soldier."

"I wonder how old it is." Daley thought aloud as Jackson passed her one of the letters.

"It's dated July 1942," Melissa said, staring at an old photograph.

"That's World War II."

"I told you there was an old army base in the middle of the jungle." Sierra stated, staring at the man in the photo over Melissa's shoulder.

As Jackson pulled out the soldier's dog tag, Melissa began reading the letter out loud. The survivors listen intently, their hearts going out to the man who was stuck on this desolate spit of land as much as they were. One line of the letter stuck with them all: "_This tropical island is hot, but it's beautiful. And I'm deployed with a great group of guys. It doesn't matter that we're all so different, we're all in this together and that helps a lot. Yeah we're scared, we're all scared. But when things get tough, there's always somebody there to help get you through. I can't imagine being here without them._"

"If these are his dog tags, he never made it home."

"And neither did this letter." Melissa added through her tears. She felt someone wrap their arms around her from behind, and she was surprised to find that it was Sierra, and she was also crying.

"Well, I don't want someone to have to read a letter 20 years from now to figure out what happened to us." Jackson stated, putting everything back in the ammo box. "I want to tell them myself. I want to survive." He pushed another bamboo stick into the ground. Following his lead, everyone else began building the shelter, a new determined fire in their eyes. When all eight sticks of bamboo had been firmly placed in the ground, Jackson took the dog tags and draped them over one of the pieces of grass. Sierra bent her head and prayed for the man that was just like them; stuck on the island but happy because he had his family with him. She only hoped they did not meet the same fate he did.

* * *

A/N: Read and Review please and thank you!


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N:** So I've been informed that it's been 6 months since I've last updated. I apologize for that. But remember how I was complaining about how crazy my last year of high school was? Turns out my first year of University buried that year about six feet under and I've still got finals to write in two weeks. But, since I'm taking a break to let my brain solidify again, I'm going to post this chapter. This one starts at the very end of episode 2x03 "He Said, She Said, He Said". The first paragraph will be a very brief description of the episode so far so that no one is confused, but then it will get into the meat of the problem. I hope you guys keep sticking with me despite my prolonged absence. School has a habit of getting in the way of our passions, and I pray that I have understanding readers.

Chapter 10

Day 13 for the survivors of Flight 29 DWN was a strange one, to say the least. Lex was working on a complicated design for the new shelter that they had voted to build, with the support of his sister and friends. As Jackson had predicted, Taylor and Eric were making life extremely difficult for all. They began spreading rumors about Nathan, who had been acting weird ever since the monsoon. At first it looked like Nathan was trying to get close to Daley in order to rig the voting process. If Nathan got close to Daley, then they would have four of the seven votes, as Melissa would vote with Nathan and Lex would vote with Daley. But then Nathan was so out of it that Taylor and Eric proclaimed him sick, which was later 'confirmed' by Melissa. The final rumor was that Nathan and Melissa were hooking up, as Taylor had seen them walking the beach together looking 'lovey-dovey'.

Needless to say, Jackson, who liked things simple, had had enough. The tension between the members of the group was so thick it could be cut with one of their camp knives. The growing tension was also getting to Sierra, who was growing more and more distant from him as the day went on. She had disappeared within the first waking hours of the day after a fight with her brother about helping things run smoothly with the new democracy. Jackson had been so busy that he hadn't had time to go search for her, and Eric was obviously still angry at her for whatever she had said to him so he wasn't going to go look for her.

At the present moment Jackson was collecting bits and pieces of the debris that had collected on the shoreline from the plane. He looked up when he heard a female voice call his name, but was disappointed when it was only Taylor.

She took a couple of deep breaths before saying, "This hurts me as much as it hurts you. I mean, after all, Nathan and I used to go out."

"Okay, now what?" He turned to face her and a small smile graced his features when he spotted Sierra not far behind her and within hearing distance.

"Well, I hate to be the one to break this to you but…Melissa doesn't have a crush on you anymore." Taylor delivered the news as if it was a death sentence and Jackson had to laugh. He had known for a long time that Melissa's crush on him had faded, if not completely gone away. Out of the corner of his eye, however, he saw that Sierra had frozen on the sand.

"Any you know this because..?"

"Because she and Nathan are…you know…"

"In cahoots!" Jackson replied, using the new word of the day.

"Big cahoots!"

Jackson sighed. "What is it Taylor? First there's some evil plot, then Nathan's sick, and now there's a romance? You're having trouble keeping your stories straight."

"Look, I'm just reporting what I see."

"Fine. Then let's stop guessing, and put all of our cards on the table then." He placed the debris in his hands on the ground and started walking towards camp with Taylor trailing behind.

He passed by Sierra, who grabbed his arm to halt him. "Can we talk?" she whispered.

"Can it wait until later? I've got to figure this out before it drives me crazy."

She nodded quietly before joining the procession.

* * *

"Will someone please explain to me what's going on with Nathan?" Jackson asked the group that he found at camp, struggling to keep his voice calm.

"Something's going on with Nathan?" Lex questioned. The poor kid had been under so much pressure with the new design of the shelter that he had been oblivious to what everyone else was going through.

"Well Eric here tells me that Nathan and Daley are plotting island domination."

"What's up with that?" Daley asked Eric, who had just joined them.

"That's what Taylor told me."

"Well, I saw them getting all cozy and then Melissa confirmed it." Taylor gestured to the girl who had just joined them.

"I didn't confirm anything." Melissa panicked.

"You said that Nathan and Daley were getting closer to help things go smoothly. What was I supposed to think?"

"That makes no sense!" Daley interjected.

Melissa tried to explain herself before Jackson cut her off, saying "And what's this I hear about Nathan getting hurt in the lightening?"

"Nathan got hurt?" Lex shouted. Nathan was one of his closest friends; how did he not realize that he was hurt? He was supposed to be the smart one!

"Melissa says he's been acting weird ever since he almost died." Eric explained.

"Everybody can see that," Taylor backed the blond boy up.

Lex rose from his perch on the log. "Nathan almost died!" Jackson rolled his eyes as Sierra bent down to hold Lex close. He was like her safety blanket, Jackson thought. Whenever things got strained, she would hold either one of them close until it passed. "_That's probably how Melissa found out about us,_" Jackson thought bitterly.

"I was only guessing!" Melissa attempted to explain herself a second time.

"And now," Jackson interrupted again. "It's about Melissa and Nathan hooking up."

"What!"

"Mhmm. Don't act all innocent. We see you two together…cahooting." Taylor said.

"And confiding. Admit it! You said there's a whole lot of confiding going around." Eric and Taylor nodded. "And cahooting."

"How did I miss all this?" Lex questioned.

"Don't worry; I missed all of it too." Sierra whispered in his ear.

"But we're friends!" Melissa exclaimed.

"Apparently." Taylor stated with a wicked grin on her face.

"It's coming right back to Melissa." Jackson said suspiciously.

"What's the deal Mel?"

"There's no deal."

"What's the truth?"

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"Just be honest."

"How come nobody tells me anything?"

"Is there something we should know?"

"Why does the story keep on changing?"

"Maybe it's you and Nathan that are trying to take over?"

"Stop!" Melissa finally yelled. "I was only trying to keep from saying that Nathan is in love with Daley!"

As luck would have it, Nathan had just appeared behind a tree. Everyone stood stock-still in shock.

"Nobody ever tells me anything!" Lex proclaimed.

Melissa looked up at everyone, embarrassed for being the one to blow Nathan's secret. She spotted Jackson in the crowd and noted the tiny smirk on his face. She felt her rage build up inside of her, but she knew if she blew his secret too, Jackson would kill her. Melissa had seen his protective streak when Taylor had pranked her and when Abby had been hurt, and Sierra seemed to bring it out even more. If she did anything to upset Eric's sister, Melissa had no doubt in her mind that Jackson would kill her. Or Eric would kill her. Either way, she would be dead.

Nathan stalked off, leaving the small group to dissipate as they pleased. Jackson followed Sierra away to have the talk she had mentioned to him. Daley walked off to be on her own. Melissa scrambled to follow Nathan to explain what had happened.

"Nathan! Please wait!"

"Why should I Mel? You told them! I can't believe you told them!"

"I'm sorry! But they kept asking and I got so confused! It just came out!"

"Why couldn't you have just said nothing?"

"Because they were all worried about how strange you've been acting and all the theories got mixed together and they were all gathering around me and Jackson had that stupid smirk on his face and…"

"Jackson! What does he have to do with any of this? This was between you and me!" Nathan was silent for a moment before a thought struck him. "You didn't tell Jackson to get closer to him, did you?"

"No! Nathan, I wouldn't do that to you! You know that, don't you?"

"I don't know what I know anymore."

"Jackson is…not important. He's not interested in me."

"How do you know? You know what? It doesn't even matter! I can't believe you would betray me like that! I know, I know. It shouldn't matter because no relationship here would be a good one but…"

"Jackson and Sierra seem to be having a pretty good relationship here." Melissa muttered, crossing her fingers that Nathan wouldn't be able to hear her.

"WHAT!"

"Oops! Nathan, promise me you won't tell anyone!"

"You're seriously asking me that after what just happened? If we've learned anything on this island, it's that secrets pull families apart."

"But Nathan…"

"No Melissa! People deserve to know! Eric deserves to know!"

Nathan started pulling a very hesitant Melissa back towards camp.

"Nathan, promise me one thing?"

"What?"

"This isn't some revenge thing is it? And it's not something to get the heat off of you, right?"

"Revenge, no. And I'm not outing them so that people will forget about what you said. But I know that keeping my secret was driving me crazy, and maybe Jackson feels the same way."

"Nathan, please don't do this!"

"Look Melissa, I get that you want to protect Jackson as much as you wanted to protect me. But people deserve to know that there is a secret relationship going on here when we all agreed not to have relationships on the island."

* * *

Jackson silently followed Sierra to her cave, which seems to have become their spot. She quickly scaled the wet wall and disappeared over the top.

When he poked his head into the cave, she was curled up in the furthest, darkest corner.

He settled himself in the furthest corner from her and watched her as he would a wild animal.

Finally, he heard a quiet voice that said, "Why didn't you tell me about Melissa's crush on you?"

"I didn't think it mattered."

"Well it does."

Jackson moved closer so that he was sitting in front of her. "Why does it matter?"

"It explains why she hates me."

"She doesn't hate you."

"Yes she does! You don't see the way she looks at me when we're together! It's like she wants to drown me or something!"

Jackson sighed. He really wasn't good with the whole 'drama' thing. "I'm sure you're just imagining things. Yes, she liked me at one point, but we've moved past that. I see her like a little sister."

"Well you may see her as a sibling, but she sure as hell doesn't see you as an older brother."

"I don't like Melissa, okay? So you don't have anything to worry about!"

"I do worry though!"

"Why, huh? Why do you worry?" Jackson felt his temper rising with his voice.

"Because I don't deserve you!" Sierra shouted, tears streaming down her face, keeping time with the waterfall outside. She started sobbing like she hadn't since she realized that her own mother didn't care for her. "And you don't…deserve…me!" She chocked out. "I don't know how to deal with any of this…and you're so good to me and everyone…I'm too much baggage and you don't deserve that."

Jackson pulled her into his lap and rocked her back and forth. He rarely, if ever, showed this type of emotion, but something about Sierra's innate innocence and childlike fear brought it out in him. He wished he could just bundle her up and never let anything hurt her.

"Do you realize how long we've been together?" Sierra sobbed. "Less than a week! And most of that I've spent running away in tears because I can't deal with it!"

"Shhh…" Jackson continued soothing her until he felt that she would listen to what he had to say. "Do you realize how long it took for me to fall for you?" Sierra looked up at him with glassy eyes and he thought he had never seen anything so beautiful. "It took me less than a day to realize that you understand me better than anyone else I've ever met. It took me less than an hour to see how much you cared about everyone you met, even in you feel disconnected from them because you've been here so long. It took me less than a minute to realize that you're it for me. And, after that, it took me less than 30 seconds to notice that there was no going back for me. You're all I need, here or at home."

Sierra nuzzled into Jackson's neck, tears still streaming down her reddened cheeks; only this time they were happy tears. "You can't know what will happen once we get off this island. We're different people here; I'm a different person here. We're only 16—"

"But we've experienced more than people twice or three times our age." He gently interrupted. "We may change, but nothing is going to change what we go through here. People and jobs and school will come and go, but the people on this island will always be the most important people in the world to me. We're connected whether you like it or not, Sierra. And I will do or be whatever you need me to do or be for as long as you'll let me. With me around, you'll never have to be alone again. I promise."

Sierra looked up at him with her watery green eyes and her tangled hair and her bright smile, and Jackson knew he had said the right thing. He knew it even better when she leaned up and gave him a sweet, lingering kiss on the lips, which he returned with equal feeling. They both wanted to say those three little words, but knew they would send them on a quick downward spiral with the condition they were both in. Those eight letters were still too soon and too damaging to say, but they would be said in the near future.

**A/N:** I really need to stop with the cheesiness since I'm lactose intolerant, but still. I hope my next update won't take as long as this one did, and I hope you all enjoyed. Please review!


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